Gerald Kleczka: “last year, the estate tax provisions enacted in the $1.35 trillion Bush tax cut would gradually increase the value of…”

“last year, the estate tax provisions enacted in the $1.35 trillion Bush tax cut would gradually increase the value of estates that are exempt from taxation, until completely repeating the estate tax for one year only, 2010, after which the exemption would return to $1 million. At that time, these provisions were projected to cost nearly $80 billion over the first ten years. The proponents of this misguided tax cut were confident back then that we would be awash in surpluses as far as the eye can see. But the bill before us today, H.R. 2143, seems to ignore our current budget situation; it would go ahead and permanently repeal the estate tax starting in 2011, even though the nearly $4 trillion in projected future surpluses has evaporated since the Bush tax cut was enacted. The House Budget Committee's Democratic staff now estimates that this year's deficit alone, excluding Social Security Trust Fund surpluses, will be a whopping $314 billion. At this rate, over the next ten years, deficits could add up to a total of $2.6 trillion. I am told by many of those who are supporting this bill, that we are on a war footing, with many additional national expenses as a result. Passing H.R. 2143 would not only squander the opportunities we now have to redirect our nation's fiscal course, but it would further exacerbate the financial predicament that we currently find ourselves in.”