Democrats' effort to renew U.S. estate tax fails

[question everything]

Source: Reuters

An effort by Democrats to stop the repeal of a tax on wealthy estates in the United States has failed in the Senate, as Republicans blocked a renewal of the tax that expires in 15 days. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus failed on Wednesday in a procedural move to introduce a measure that would have extended the tax for two months and give lawmakers more time to work out a deal.

Without action, the 45 percent tax on estates after a $3.5 million exemption disappears for a year and then jumps to 55 percent, with an exemption of $1 million, in 2011. The tax has divided Democrats, with conservatives from the party teaming with Republicans to propose a lower tax with a greater exemption level.

(snip)

Democratic leaders had hoped to extend the tax permanently, and the House of Representatives passed a bill to do that earlier this month. But the Senate is mired in its health-care debate, so floor time is scarce.. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin said there may be one more attempt to extend the tax in the Senate. If that fails, it will have to wait until next year.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN166860720091216

---

Sigh. Again wondering what those Democrats who oppose the extension stand for.

[Doctor_J]

1. What a power house majority we have

:puke:

[Frances]

7. I think the reason Repubs have so much power

is that their base focuses its anger on the Dems.

DUers focus their anger on Dems.

[USA_1]

18. ''DUers focus their anger on Dems.''

Perhaps this is well deserved since so many Congressional Dems vote Republican. The DUers want this to change but nothing they say or do will compel the DINOs to change.

[Frances]

22. You support my point exactly

ALL the Repubs have voted No on everything Obama has opposed. A few Dems have not cooperated.

I just don't understand the defeatism I see on this board. It seems like a lot of DUers don't have the courage to go after the Repubs.

[pattmarty]

27. How quickly SOME forget that a lot of Dems actually supported...........

..........Bush jr's tax cuts, wars, Medicare "reform", etc. ALONG with virtually ALL the Republicans. Now, I am going to ask, how the fuck is it that as many as a quarter of Dems for whatever reasons are NOT supporting their Presidents centerpiece legislation????? Jeez, and NO Republicans are breaking ranks again virtually ALL standing together. Now, if you have an IQ over let's say 75, one would wonder why "liberals" would get really pissed off that at the very least, 95% of Dems couldn't stay united??? If this was reversed and the Republicans were in the exact position on an "important" bill, would you not think the "fucking crazies" on their side would castrate (or in the case of a female Rep, the equivalent) their Reps when they returned for the holidays?

[USA_1]

40. ''a lot of DUers don't have the courage to go after the Repubs. ''

I certainly do and am an Indy, not a Dem.

Every day I fight against the fucking Resuckblicans on several web forums and wonder where the hell are all the cowardly Democrats. Why don't they stand up and fight the way every else does instead of applauding each other on this forum. I post on Topix where the right wingers all make the libs eat shit because the Pukes don't scare me. Do you post there?

[AlbertCat]

23. DUers focus their anger on Dems.

Well...the Repugs are immaterial. They are just obstructionists but only get their way when a Dem (or Indie) sides with them. A little solidarity in the liberal ranks would go a LOOOOONG way.

[No Elephants]

35. You seem to be confusing message board posts with political power.

[mzmolly]

38. Well, factoring in Lieberman we don't have a filibuster proof

majority, unfortunately.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Do you realize that estates of ANY amount are tax free from January 1 to December 31.

Might be a number of sudden, unexplained deaths of wealthy individuals over 365 days, especially as the 55% rears its ugly head on January 1, 2011.

[izquierdista]

4. You write as though that's a bad thing....

[aquart]

14. Uh, it is.

[PassingFair]

36. I'll let the poor babies who are inheriting more than 3.5 million worry about it.

:nopity:

[alfredo]

5. I bet the bush boys are worried their dad will outlive the tax cut. That old

coot is staying alive to deny them a tax free estate.

[krispos42]

6. "He's spending the year dead for tax purposes"

:rofl:

[nebenaube]

20. why not let the oligarchs eat themselves?

At least there will be fewer of them.

[question everything]

21. "A Modest Proposal" in reverse

I like it.

http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

[no_hypocrisy]

26. Because of the fact they will be replaced by younger oligarchs.

Equivalent to shooting the Pope. You know there'll be another one on the way to replace the dead one.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Well then, I guess all those billionaires should plan on dying in 2010, so they can pass on the

wealth tax-free to their kids.

[Auggie]

11. Just wait -- next year the Senate will want to reduce the tax and increase the exemption

Wouldn't be a bit surprised.

[lurky]

8. So, who defected this time?

While the Dems may be the majority in name, the R's are obviously the de-facto majority.

[Turbineguy]

9. They can pass on wealth

tax free while alive under the gift provisions.

[WriteDown]

10. This used to be an issue with me with my Aunt's estate on LI...

But now that housing prices have fallen so much, it isn't anymore. I guess there is a very small silver lining.

[reformist]

12. Advice to Billionaires in 2010...

Go into hiding., to a place where your children can't find you.

[question everything]

16. Hi reformist, welcome to DU

:toast:

[reformist]

25. Thanks! n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

28. Welcome to DU reformist.

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

13. Well, that says a lot, doesn't it?

[question everything]

17. It is not just the estate tax

Bush tax cuts from 2001 are expected to expire in 2010 and I doubt that any Democrat will try to block that expiration since they will scream "tax increase" just in time for November.

[ShortnFiery]

31. Hello? The tax cuts for the wealthy EXPIRATION in 2010 is "a good thing" ...

unless you're a multi-millionaire. :shrug:

[question everything]

37. It was a tax cut for everyone. Look back at your finances

from 2001 and this will be the excuse for the Republicans to oppose it and for Democrats to, well, cower.

[mrbarber]

15. Democrats fail yet again.

[madmom]

19. We have met the enemy and he is us. : (

[Tim01]

24. The dems are laughable.

Things are only going to get better for the republicans from here on out for quite a while.

In the best of times, now, the dems have all the power and muscle of pre-school toddlers.

[groundloop]

29. It's hard to determine which dem to get pissed at, plenty of blame to go around

There's obviously Joe Lie-berman. Then close behind is Nelson, maybe Baucus and a few others. I've been convinced for awhile that Reid is an ineffective majority leader, he seems afraid or unable to use a few strong-arm tactics when they're called for.

In a lot of ways the dems in the senate seem like kids an a baseball team I coached. Instead of focusing on winning and planning out how they're going to succeed they get so scared of losing that they can't do anything right.

[No Elephants]

30. Lieberman is not even a DINO. He's an independent. And he and Bush practically had to get a room.

Reid is the majority leader, duly elected by Democratic Senators, both when they were in the minority and when they were in the majority. So, no matter how bad a leader we may think he is, they obviously want him where he is.

Baucus, Nelson, Landrieu, et al. have no damn excuse.

[Tim01]

34. Wait until the repubs control all three branches of the govt, it will be different.

They will behave like the mafia, bulldozing over the dems without apology or regret.

[EndElectoral]

32. Un-beleivable

[No Elephants]

33. Reminds me of a dance that was famous, back in the day. Oh, wait. That was the

Hucklebuck, not the Clusterfuck.


never mind.

[quakerboy]

39. I question the article on grounds of basic logic

There are 40 republicans. Republicans cannot "block" jackall. Perhaps a better title would have been "Democrats disagree on effort to renew us Estate tax". Or simply "US senators vote to stop taxing the rich"

[Romulox]

41. Wait a minute! This was NEW TAX BREAK for the VERY WEALTHY. I'm glad it failed!

"Without action, the 45 percent tax on estates after a $3.5 million exemption disappears for a year and then jumps to 55 percent, with an exemption of $1 million, in 2011."

In other words, taxes on estates worth more than $1 million dollars will be much, much lower if the bill mentioned in the OP passed. You are being played, people! :hi: