"I believe in estate tax reform that would ensure that more than 99 percent of estates would bear no federal tax. But we cannot afford to repeal the estate tax outright. Full repeal would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit and would benefit only the wealthiest multimillionaire and billionaire estates." (Des Moines Register, November 12, 2007)
Voted NO on permanently repealing the `death tax`. (Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act; Bill HR 8; vote number 2006-164, June 8, 2006)
Barack Obama
We should keep the estate tax at the very reasonable level it will be in 2009 and should not repeal it. By doing that, we can eliminate the estate tax for 99.7 percent of all taxpayers without expecting ordinary families to finance unnecessary tax cuts for billionaire heirs like Paris Hilton. Complete repeal of the estate tax would cost more than $1 trillion over the first 10 years at a time when we have much greater priorities." (Des Moines Register, November 12, 2007)
Two higher-level personal income tax brackets would be restored, and tax rates on dividends and capital gains would return to Clinton-era levels. Also, the estate tax would be retained with a $7 million exemption, rather than repealed, campaign officials said. (Des Moines Register, May 30, 2007)
"Repealing the tax would cost one trillion dollars, with a T, one trillion dollars," he said. "The only way you can eliminate the estate tax is to make up for the trillion dollars." (Kankakee (IA) Daily Journal, September 23, 2006)
Voted NO on permanently repealing the `death tax`. (Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act; Bill HR 8; vote number 2006-164, June 8, 2006)
KEY ISSUES
