Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
Americans for Democratic Action
HR 1836. Estate Tax.
Dorgan (D-ND) amendment to strike the estate-tax repeal provision and repeal the estate tax in 2003 for only all qualified family-owned farms and businesses. It also would reduce the top estate-tax rate bracket to 45 percent. Rejected.Taxpayers for Common Sense Action
Reduction of the Estate Tax.
The estate tax is an inheritance tax. In 1997, legislation was enacted to gradually increase the exemption to $1 million in 2006. In that year, the estate tax will affect fewer than 2% of all American families. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) offered a Democratic alternative to the Estate Tax Repeal that would increase the exemption to $4 million and would provide exemptions for larger farms and businesses. Both this amendment and the estate tax repeal in the underlying bill (H.R. 1836) dramatically skew the benefits toward a very small number of extremely wealthy estates.
The Senate rejected the Dorgan amendment.
Americans for Tax Reform
Death Taxes.
The Senate defeated an amendment limiting death tax repeal to only family-owned farms and businesses.