GOP Delegation Votes Against Estate Tax Fix and Tax Cut

Yesterday, the House voted 225-200 to permanently extend the estate tax at its 2009 level -- 45% for estates valued at more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for a couple.  As part of the 2001 Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers, the estate tax gradually decreased and was set to disappear for all of 2010, only to come back in 2011 at a 55% rate for estates worth more than $1 million. Media Matters:

Rep. Earl Pomeroy's (D-ND) H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009, which passed the House today, will fix the problem by making the estate tax permanent at 45% and raising the exemption to $3.5 million.  According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, H.R. 4154 is actually a $233.6 billion tax cut.  Republicans, who want to entirely abolish the estate tax, must choose between supporting a Democratic tax cut or having rates rise in 2011. 

The Missouri delegation split on party lines, with Republicans predictably standing up for the wealthiest 0.2% among us, and voting against the simple, fair fix.  Only 1 in 500 estates pay the estate tax under current rules, meaning 99.8% percent of estates are passed on completely tax-free.

Republicans who want to completely the estate tax should be (1) a little more honest in explaining who is affected by the tax (Bill Stouffer incorrectly states that it applies to "many farmers, small businessmen and families in rural Missouri," for example) and (2) a little more specific about how they'd make up the lost federal revenue if a repeal was enacted.