Senate Rejects Repeal and Reduction of Estate Tax

AP is reporting that " Senators voted Thursday to reject a Republican effort to shrink taxes on inherited estates during this election year....A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill." Sixty votes are needed in the Senate for a bill to be safe from filibuster.

Said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, "The estate tax is an extremely costly tax for a wealthy few that comes at the expense of every other American born and yet to be born for decades to come."

Two Republican senators, Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) and George Voinovich (R-OH) broke ranks to vote with Democrats in rejecting this tax cut bill that would remove up to $1 trillion from the US Treasury over the next ten years, and would benefit only the wealthiest millionaires in America, representing less than 1% of US taxpayers.

"Repealing the estate tax during this time of fiscal crisis would be incredibly irresponsible and intellectually dishonest," Voinovich said to AP.
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Also read:
-- Liberal Blogs Speak Out Against Permanent Repeal of Estate Tax
-- Estate Tax Reform Dies in Senate by William Perez, About.com's Guide to Tax Planning
-- The Estate Tax, Back on the Agenda, a New York Times editorial on June 6, 2006 in which the Times states, "There is no moral justification for cutting estate taxes."