Washington, D.C. - The White House today rejected Congress' effort to restore some fairness to the tax code with President Clinton's veto of a bill that would end the death tax.
The measure, which would have phased out the death tax over the next 10 years and then repeal it completely, passed the Senate in July in a bi-partisan 59-39 vote and a 279-136 June vote in the House.
U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, who has been fighting for death tax repeal since before his term began, said the veto is an example of this administration's disregard for people who pay taxes, especially families who own small businesses including farms and ranches.
"Income from the death tax amounts to less than 2 percent of overall revenue to the federal treasury, but the death tax is very significant for individual families who want to keep their ranch or small business intact. The current death tax allows the federal government to tax up to 55 percent of an individual's estate and often the survivors have to sell off parts of the operation to pay the exorbitant tax," Enzi said. "We should be helping businesses thrive to improve the economy instead of taxing them into extinction."
Enzi said the death tax is fundamentally unfair because it is yet another layer of taxation on the same assets.
"First the individual pays property tax, then he or she pays tax on the income earned from that property and now the family is asked to pay yet another tax on the same assets. This issue isn't about some huge 'risky tax cutting scheme' as this administration will label it. It's about what is fair to these people who have worked all their lives to be able to leave something for their children," said Enzi.
Enzi was also very disappointed, although not surprised, that President Clinton earlier this month vetoed a bill that would have eliminated the income tax penalty paid by millions of married couples. Nearly 21 million married couples, about 45,000 people in Wyoming, pay more in taxes than they would if they were single. The average extra tax burden is about $1,400 per couple per year.
