Senator Gives Estate Tax Repeal Bill ‘Zero’ Chance Of Success

[jefferson_dem]

:popcorn:

Senator Gives Estate Tax Repeal Bill ‘Zero’ Chance Of Success,
by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington 05 September 2005

Sen. Charles Grassley (R - Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has stated that there is virtually no chance that the Senate will back a full repeal of the estate tax when the chamber reconvenes to address the issue once again after the summer recess.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R - Tenn.) is planning a vote on H.R.8, which would repeal the estate tax beginning this year, and it could be one of the first bills on the Senate's legislative agenda during the September session, despite the more pressing issue of dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which has devastated the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast area.

However, it is widely acknowledged by lawmakers and analysts that Frist lacks the minimum 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster, a point Grassley noted whilst speaking to reporters in his home state of Iowa last week.

"I would imagine we have 55 or 56 votes to repeal it, but it's not going to get done," commented Grassley, who went on to add that the chances of a permanent repeal of the tax are "zero".

<SNIP>

http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story_open.asp?storyname=21005

[1932]

1. That's a relief.

[Yupster]

12. I bet they pass a compromise

at about $ 3 million.

[still_one]

17. I thought 1 million was already exempt?

[Yupster]

20. It's more than a million

I think it's 1.5 million this year, and going up each year until 2010, but then it goes back down to $ 1 million permanently.

I think $ 1 million is too low. Supposedly the Democratic leadership is willing to go to about $ 3 million which seems fine in my opinion. Three million would take care of most small businesses and people who just saved well during their lives.

For years it was $ 600 k and that was too low.

[Imagevision]

27. A Republican Senator to boot!! they concerned about losing in 06 bigtime!

[klook]

2. And what a great filibuster it's going to be, too

I can't wait to hear the fiery speeches condemning welfare for billionaires while the poor are starving and drowning, literally. Why do the rethugs even want to try this now? Are they that idiotic?? Let's hope so.

[Robeson]

7. I'm with you, I can't believe they'd be stupid enough to bring this up...

...then again, the Republicans never cease to amaze with their actions.

[koopie57]

13. I heard that one day last week

the RNC sent an e-mail to their constituency to call their congresscritters and push that this goes through. Did you hear anything like that?

[jamesinca]

14. They did send that out

The RNC chair sent it out on 9/1/05. It has been posted on several threads here on the DU. It is not a rumor, it is not a lie, they sent it out. They hope with everything else going on that it will go through and not be noticed. They hope that Katrina, 2 SCOTUS appointees, the war in Iraq etc... will provide enough distraction and this can slip through unnoticed. They hope that it will not be the headline, only a footnote and the time is right to have this as a footnote.

[ShockediSay]

15. You mean the Millionaire rich kids' tax

They call it the death tax.

The real death tax is the number lost in Iraq, whose families are left in dire straits.

Nothing like benefiting the few at the dear expense of the many.

PS: How many of our fallen soldiers in Iraq/and families do you think would have benefited from repeal of the MRKT?

[jamesinca]

16. The death tax

they are going to give relief to the dead. That is the one, that is the most pressing thing that will be on the congressional slate when they return as far as republicns are concerned.

Don't take life so serious, your not getting out alive anyway.

[ShockediSay]

32. The real "death tax" was paid by our soldiers in Iraq

And how many millionaire rich kids do you think were included in that number?

[PA Democrat]

29. I got a letter from Rick Santorum on the dreaded "death tax" Wednesday

while images of desperate survivors were all over the TV. What filthy greedy cold-hearted pigs these Republicans are.

[Imagevision]

28. Can someone recommend this one up please.

[bring_em_home_bush]

10. Oh, you're right, I think it would push Middle America right over the edge

Please, please, let them try.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Leave it to the Republicans.

A major US city is in ruins and all these fuckwits can think of is pimping for another tax benefit for the very rich. Even if it doesn't pass, it's a disgrace that they'd even bring it up under these circumstances.

[Gloria]

4. Eleanor Clift predicted this on the McLaughlin Group....

Iraq and Katrina, no way

[CountAllVotes]

5. next to go ...

hang on pukes, you'll be losing your Tax Breaks for the Rich too ... and you can thank * for it.

[napi21]

6. I bet Frist never brings it to a vote. None of these guys like to lose,

and if he knows it's not possible, or even a done deal, it will die on the shelf.

[Yupster]

Nice thing about being in the majority

You get to decide what gets brought up to a vote and when.

[Yupster]

21. Nice thing about being in the majority

You get to decide what gets brought up to a vote and when.

[peacetalksforall]

25. Strategy options -

1. Use Grassle to downplay vote count when they really have 60+ - in an effort to soften the pre-vote criticism of addressing estate give-ways ahead of the sturggling victims and their saviour-helpers who are suffering and laboring all along the Gulf Coast.

or

2. If Grassle's count is accurate - say they are going to address it first, then announce that in view of the disaster, they will postpone the vote so that they can look like the good guys.

Is it true that the estate vote will cost the country 1.5 million a day in lost tax revenue? Or is it 1.5 billion? Anyone know?

[applegrove]

8. I hope they put it forward anyway to show just how lovely they are.

[howmad1]

9. Yea, so do I.

Should be interesting to see how many DINO's will vote for it.

[Dudley_DUright]

23. The fact that they are even considering it after Katrina

should be stuffed down their throats by the congressional democrats.

[AlGore-08.com]

11. Thank God somebody's finally standing up for the millionaires!

:sarcasm:

[fasttense]

18. I am so embarrassed that Frist represents Tenn. I didn't vote for

the heartless, uncaring, self-serving egotist. Instead of introducing legislation to help the victims of Katrina, Frist introduces legislation to give tax cuts to the rich. I hide my head in shame.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. Which Democrat In Name Only is going to vote for it?

If it comes to a cloture vote, if one of our Democrats votes on the wrong side of this, we must mak it our mission to rid the party of that a*hole at any cost. If our leaders will not discipline the congressional delegation then it is up to us to do it for them.

And furthermore, our 'opposition party' had better use the oppostunity to connect the atrocity on New Orleans with the deliberate effort by the Cabal to defund the federal government's non-military agencies. They had better start drawing the connections and spelling it out at every opportunity.

[Cocoa]

22. Bill Nelson is a co-sponsor

TomPaine.com lists some defectors and undecideds, though I think Katrina might have changed some of these dems' positions...

In addition, Bob Novak was recently floating the probable lie that Obama might defect.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050831/the_chazer_caucus.php

It’s pretty certain that the Republicans also have three Democrats: Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas) and the Nelson boys. Bill Nelson (Forida) signed on as a co-sponsor of Sen. Jon Kyl’s repeal bill; Lincoln has long been for full repeal and her pet policy is unlimited exemptions for farms and business, which is awful tax policy. Ben Nelson (Nebraska) gives as his excuse that he has a tough re-election next year—but he’s been off the reservation for a long time. So Frist already has 58 votes to end debate and crush a filibuster—just two votes shy.

The other Democrats who apparently are most ripe to topple are: California’s Dianne Feinstein, who is personally rich, so I guess this is her looking after her heirs; Mark Pryor, who sees this as a way to suck up to his home-state Arkansas Wal-Mart heirs; Evan Bayh, who has to court financial contributors for his presidential run; and Mary Landrieu, who won a close re-election in Louisiana thanks to the low-income black voters who will take the biggest hit from the repeal. By the way, Landrieu, Bayh and Pryor all voted for the bankruptcy bill earlier this year—yet another bill that hurt average working families but helps the well-connected and powerful (in this case, the credit card industry).

[AtomicKitten]

24. These faux Dems must go.

We must take note and remember these and those that voted for the bankruptcy bill. I swear I will weep if Obama defects. Like Bill Maher said, tax cuts are Jesus in BushWorld.

[iamjoy]

31. Democrats Should Filibuster With Katrina

what they should do is constantly make connections to lack of funding and the disaster in NOLA. Talk about Katrina's victims living in poverty and other people getting money.

Or, is that just exploitative politics?

[despairing optimist]

26. I bet they're glad the nuclear option didn't go through now

Now they can hide behind the threat of a Democratic filibuster to shy away from their aggressive agenda, since they know it's poison to them after Katrina. I hope the Democrats can keep their distance and not let themselves be used.

[MadisonProgressive]

30. I will believe it when I see it - they won't pull the trigger

because they would be pointing the gun at their own heads, and they know it. If they do, they are ruthless, AND DUMB!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. The Hurricane Katrina disaster will cost 10s of billions or more.

And these fuckheads' solution is to repeal the estate tax.

:banghead: