Bob Kerrey: “Let me congratulate the Democratic leader for an excellent statement. I couldn't have said it better myself. He is…”

“Let me congratulate the Democratic leader for an excellent statement. I couldn't have said it better myself. He is right; we have an excellent piece of legislation here. The law, as we are proposing it, will dramatically improve the kind of service that taxpayers get, make the IRS much more efficient, and give people much more confidence in Government of, by, and for the people. But it does have a funding flaw. I intend to vote for this bill myself. I pledge to do what I can to make certain that we find a correction of that funding flaw. Mr. President, 177,000 people, according to the Joint Tax Committee, will pay $50,000. These are individuals who are 70 years of age or older who make over $100,000 in mostly retirement income. So they have to have well over $1 million in liquid assets and earning assets that are producing that kind of income. What they are going to do is pay $50,000 per person in order to convert a current IRA that produces taxable income into an IRA that has no taxation on that income. What is very likely to happen is they will have their estates transfer it to their heirs who will not pay tax at all. These are not people struggling to save money. There is no social benefit you can calculate here. As the distinguished Democratic leader said, it does provide $8 billion in the first 3 or 4 years. We are doing it in the second 5, so there is time to correct this problem.”