Political Quotes

“I begin today by thanking Senator Roth, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for recognizing that there is a place for estate-tax relief in this bill. The measure reported by the Finance Committee includes a variety of changes: a one-time reduction in the top death-tax rate, converting the unified credit to a true exemption, and raising the annual gift exclusion. These are all steps in the right direction. The problem is, at the end of the day, the Roth bill leaves the death tax in place. By contrast, the bill that the House of Representatives passed last week phases out the death tax over a 10-year period, and then implements a version of the bill I introduced back in May with Senator Bob Kerrey and a bipartisan group of 19 other Senators. The amendment I am offering today is based upon that bipartisan initiative. I would replace the death tax with a tax on the appreciated value of inherited assets to be paid when the assets are sold. In other words, the tax would be imposed when income is actually realized from inherited property. Death would no longer be a taxable event. This amendment represents an effort to find bipartisan consensus about how to deal with the death tax, and I hope all Senators will consider it with an open mind.”