[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 96 (Thursday, June 26, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1358-E1359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEATH TAX REPEAL PERMANENCY ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 18, 2003

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 8 
and in support of the Pomeroy substitute. The House Republican 
leadership and President Bush are once again putting the interests of 
the Bush class ahead of the needs of working families and our future 
well being. They are once again demonstrating that they have the wrong 
priorities.
  Providing tax relief for low wage hard working families remains a low 
priority for House Republicans and the Bush Administration. Instead, 
they want to once again provide even more tax breaks for people who 
need it the least by eliminating that inheritance tax. Republicans are 
denying immediate assistance to 12 million children who come from 
families that earn between $10,500 to $26 a year, and where one million 
of the children have parents that currently serve or have served in the 
military. Nearly 674,000 children or one in four children back in my 
home state of Illinois would have qualified for this aid. This is an 
outrage. Talk about having your priorities backwards!
  Proponents of this legislation make baseless claims that it will help 
small businesses, farmers and working families. The claim that the 
estate tax puts small family farms out of business. The National 
Farmers Union disputes this assertion, ``There is no evidence that the 
estate tax has forced the liquidation of any farms, and existing estate 
tax already exempt 98 percent of all farms and ranches.'' The fact is 
that the estate tax currently affects only the richest 2 percent of 
estates, and the number dramatically shrinks as the exemption rises to 
$3.5 million in 2009. H.R. 8 eliminates the tax on the wealthiest 2 
percent of all Americans--people like Bill Gates and Ken Lay. In my 
home state of Illinois less than 2500 families would benefit from the 
repeal of the estate tax. The rest of the public would not benefit from 
it at all. In fact, it will hurt their future and further damage our 
struggling Bush economy, where 2.7 million private sector jobs have 
been lost.
  H.R. 8 will hurt our economic future because it would add at least an 
additional trillion dollars to the federal deficit over the next twenty 
years. The vast majority of Americans will have to make sacrifices to 
pay for this tax cut for millionaires. If this bill is enacted into law 
there will be less money available for Social Security, Medicare, and 
prescription drugs for seniors, not to mention homeland security and 
education. Mr. Speaker, how can it be that we do not have money to fund 
the Leave No Child Behind Act but we do have money to give more tax 
cuts for the super rich? How can this be?

[[Page E1359]]

  Let me be clear. I am a strong supporter of small businesses and 
family farms and I am not against reforming the estate tax. I believe 
that families with modest assets should be exempt from the estate tax. 
That is why I support the Pomeroy substitute which exempts estates 
worth less than $3 million for an individual and $6 million for 
families from the estate taxes. The substitute would exempt 99.65 
percent of all estates.
  The Bush Administration and their Republican colleagues have a one 
track mind. They are once again attempting to lower taxes for the 
richest 1%. Just last month the Bush Administration and leaders in 
Congress passed tax cuts for millionaires and tax dodging corporations. 
President Bush made it a top priority and Vice President Cheney 
personally negotiated the final bill language with the Republican 
Congressional leadership. The tax bill passed last month will provide a 
$604,000 tax break for Vice President Cheney and $332,000 to Treasury 
Secretary John Snow. In total, it could provide up to $3.2 million in 
total tax savings for President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the 
Cabinet. I wonder how much the families of President Bush, Vice 
President Cheney, and the Cabinet would benefit from repeal of the 
estate tax?
  H.R. 8 undermines our basic sense of fairness. The legislation 
undermines progressive aspects of our tax code. It replaces it with a 
regressive tax code that puts more of a burden on middle and low wage 
families. A regressive tax code restricts opportunities for those who 
are not born into wealthy families. William Gates Sr., a supporter of 
the estate tax recently said, ``What makes America great is the broad 
ownership of property and enterprise. We all succeed to the extent that 
children are born without vast disparities in access to education, 
health care, and opportunity. We are weakened when our policy makers 
are more concerned with preserving existing wealth and power than 
creating avenues for new asset creation and opportunity.'' I couldn't 
agree with him more.
  Finally, the estate tax gives wealthy individuals an incentive to 
contribute to charity. Charitable organizations are very concerned 
about efforts to repeal the estate tax. According to the Joint Economic 
Committee Democrats, eliminating the estate tax could reduce 
contributions by 6 to 12 percent. This would reduce revenues for soup 
kitchens, AIDS prevention programs, and other vital community 
organizations that rely on charitable contributions to stay afloat.
  Support America's families. Oppose the underlying bill and support 
the Pomeroy substitute.

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