Anna Eshoo: “Mr. Speaker, I support estate tax relief, and I think the American people deserve it, and they deserve it now. The…”

“Mr. Speaker, I support estate tax relief, and I think the American people deserve it, and they deserve it now. The substitute is practical. It is immediate, and it is fiscally responsible at $40 billion over 10 years. It includes a $4 million exclusion for couples; and in California this eliminates the estate tax on all but 7 percent of California estates. The Republican plan does not provide any real tax relief for 10 years, and I do not think people want to wait. Forty-five percent of the estate tax cut will not arrive until 2010 and 2011. At $200 billion, it is outrageously expensive. When combined with the tax cuts already rammed through the House, we are already over $2 trillion in spending just on tax cuts alone. Where is the money to pay down the national debt, shore up our responsibilities for Social Security and Medicare and improve our Nation's schools? Finally, and perhaps the biggest poison in the Republican plan, is that it will actually increase taxes for many families by adding a capital gains tax upon the inheritance of assets. This is the wrong way to go. We should have it today. We should have it now. It should be affordable. That is exactly what this plan is.”