[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    AMERICANS FAVOR DEATH-TAX REPEAL

 Mr. KYL. Mr. President, a number of Senators who opposed the 
Death Tax Elimination Act have spoken on the Senate floor in recent 
weeks, suggesting that only a few people care about the unfairness of 
the tax.
  During the death-tax repeal debate back in July, one of the tax's 
proponents went so far as to question ``whose side are you on?'' if you 
favor repeal. I have no difficulty answering that at all. We are on the 
side of the American people.
  A June 22-25 Gallup poll found that 60 percent of the people support 
repeal, even though about three-quarters of those supporters do not 
think they will ever have to pay a death tax themselves.
  A poll conducted by Zogby International on July 6 found that, given a 
choice between a candidate who believes that a large estate left to 
heirs should be taxed at a rate of 50 percent for anything over $2 
million, and a candidate who believes that the estate tax is unfair to 
heirs and should be eliminated, 75 percent of the people prefer the 
person supporting death-tax repeal.
  Other polls similarly put support for repeal at between 70 and 80 
percent.
  Some issues are simply about fairness. It does not matter who 
benefits. Death-tax proponents just cannot seem to understand that, but 
the American people do.
  The American people have an unwavering sense of fairness. They 
recognize that there is something terribly wrong when, despite having 
taxed someone for a lifetime, the federal government can come back one 
more time when a person dies and take more than half of whatever is 
left. That is not only unfair, it threatens the American dream.
  That is why repeal scores high with the American people in public-
opinion polls. It is why repeal is supported by a broad coalition of 
small business, minority, environmental, family, and seniors 
organizations. Among those groups are the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of 
Commerce, the National Indian Business Association, the National Black 
Chamber of Commerce, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the 
National Federation of Independent Business, to name just a few.
  Fairness, that is what the effort to repeal the death tax is all 
about.

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