Bill Statistics

The Middle Class Position

The middle class opposes.

How They Voted

37% with middle class
61% against middle class
2% did not vote
Pie Chart

Grades

Grade F
House

The House receives a grade of F for its support of the middle class on this piece of legislation.

163 Representatives voted for the middle-class position; 264 voted against.

See how each member voted on this bill:

House

H.R. 8

Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2003

in
Introduced:
06.12.2003 [House]
House: Yea-264, Nay-163
Never came to a vote in the Senate.
The Legislation: 

The Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2003 permanently repeals the tax on “estates, gifts, and generation-skipping transfer tax provisions” over $1.5 million. Currently, the Estate Tax (also referred to as the “Death Tax”) imposes an incremental tax on the inherited assets of the wealthiest two percent of Americans, taxpayers with assets valued at over $1.5 million.

The Middle-Class Position: 

The Middle Class Opposes: Less than two percent of the U.S. population pays any estate taxes, and nearly half of all estate taxes collected by the government are paid by the most affluent 0.1% of Americans. In 2003, estate taxes collected on the inherited assets of the wealthiest citizens–over $1.5 million–provided the federal government with $20 billion in revenue to fulfill its commitments to American families. This loss of revenue would inevitably force reductions in the public institutions that are funded by taxpayers to provide services critical to their children and communities.

From the Experts: 

“The estate tax is the least damaging of all our taxation because it does not interfere with wealth creation. It increases social equality. It is so obvious estate taxation is a valuable taxation and we should keep it.” – George Soros (October,2003)

“Only the richest 2 percent of our nation’s families currently pay any estate tax at all. Repealing the estate tax would enrich the heirs of America’s millionaires and billionaires while hurting families who struggle to make ends meet… the billions of dollars in state and federal revenues lost will inevitably be made up either by increasing taxes on those less able to pay or by cutting Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection, and many other government programs so important to our nation’s continued well-being.” – Responsible Wealth,a national non-profit devoted to putting a spotlight on the dangers of excessive inequality of income and wealth in the United States (2003)

Beyond this Bill: 

As the permanent repeal of the estate tax awaits a vote in the Senate, legislators should not only oppose this legislation but reclaim the debate about the “death tax” from conservatives bent on its elimination. While the vast majority of Americans—98 percent— will never pay any estate tax, according to a national poll, fully 58 percent would vote for a candidate who would repeal it. As an issue of sound fiscal policy, legislators concerned with the economic stability of the middle class should vote down any proposed repeal of the estate tax, as well as educate the public about its role in our economy.

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