Repeal Estate Tax. During consideration of the fiscal 2008 budget resolution (Senate Concurrent Resolution 21), Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) offered an amendment that would make the phased-out repeal of the estate tax (also known as the \”death tax\”Â) permanent. Under current law, the death tax will be phased out by 2010, but because of a \”sunset\” provision the tax will only be eliminated for a single year before being reinstituted.
The tax has forced many asset-rich but cash-poor individuals to liquidate family farms, small businesses, and private property rather than bequeath those assets to loved ones.
The Senate rejected the DeMint amendment by a vote of 44-55 (Roll Call 109) on March 23, 2007. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because repealing the estate tax would be a constitutional tax cut that would benefit all Americans who would be subject to estate taxes again in 2011 and all subsequent years according to current tax law.
