Bob Kerrey: “I believe the estate tax is unfair. I worked with Senator Kyl of Arizona to write a bill to eliminate the estate tax…”

“I believe the estate tax is unfair. I worked with Senator Kyl of Arizona to write a bill to eliminate the estate tax, along with a stepped-up basis for capital gains which I think is reasonable. Unfortunately, there are two problems I have with the legislation. One is that I see many other provisions in the Tax Code that I also don't think are fair. I think the payroll tax is too high. If you ask me what the No. 1 item is in terms of eliminating, I would like to see the payroll tax reduced. I think it is too high. It is a barrier to savings. It especially falls very hard on those Americans to whom we are trying to give the most opportunity. I would like to see full deductibility of health insurance. There are a lot of things that I would like to see done. But I have to measure the cost of those against the budget itself to try to maintain the fiscal discipline we have had since 1993.”