House Republicans Talk About Repealing the Estate Tax

Republicans may cast a vote this year to repealing the estate tax in the U.S., according to House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Michigan, Bloomberg reported. Camp told reporters July 30 that a number of House members haven’t had a chance to cast their vote on the issue yet.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a vote on total repeal,” Camp said, according to the news source. “Obviously, I don’t believe death should be a taxable event.”

The bill, which would end estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, is being sponsored by 221 members of the House of Representatives, according to Investment News. This is three more than is needed for a House majority. The bill would also make a 35 percent gift-tax rate permanent, with a $5 million lifetime exclusion.

There are a number of members who are motivated to get this vote for political reasons,” Palmer Schoening, executive director of the Family Business Coalition told the news source. “It’s the most popular bill in the Republican conference right now.”

Indeed, with virtually no chance of the bill passing the Senate before the November election, and still facing a veto from President Barack Obama, it is more likely that Republican members of the House want to showcase their position on this issue ahead of the midterm elections.

In his 2015 fiscal budget, Obama proposed a top estate and gift tax rate of 45 percent with a $3.5 million individual exclusion for estates and a $1 million exclusion for individuals, indexed for inflation, Investment News reported. Democrats favor expanding the estate tax, because they argue that eliminating or reducing it would almost exclusively benefit the extremely affluent.

President Bill Clinton vetoed a similar bill, and President George W. Bush signed a law that allowed the tax to expire for 2010 only, according to Bloomberg.

This estate tax repeal is directly involved with another topic regarding transferable taxes to future generations called gift tax. Tax attorney and co-editor James F. McDonough has written extensively on the subject. Check out some of his recent posts:

• Gift Tax Myths and Misunderstandings
• Don’t Leave Gift Taxes Out of Estate Planning
• Advantages of the Gift Tax Law
• Understanding the Perks, Exclusions of the Gift Tax Law