Status of Legislation

Bill I.D.	Bill Description	Date Introduced	Original Sponsor/ # of Co-Sponsors	Status
*2005*
HR 8	Permanent Death Tax Repeal in 2010	04-13-05	Hulshof (R) (MO) Cramer (D) (AL) 179 Co-sponsors	Passed the House, Vote 272-162, 42 Democrats Voted In Favor.
S 420	Permanent Death Tax Repeal in 2010	02-17-05	Kyl (R) (AZ) 9 Co-sponsors	Read twice, Referred to the Committee On Finance
*2003*
HR 57/HR 8	Permanent Death Tax Repeal in 2010.	1-7-03	Dunn (R) (WA) Cramer (D) (AL) 209 Co-sponsors	Passed in House 264-163 June 18, 2003
S 13	Death Fairness of 2003.	2-14-03	Kyl (R) (AZ) 15 Co-sponsors	Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar
S 169	Stand Alone Permanent Death Tax Repeal in 2005.	1-15-03	Kyl (R) (AZ)	Referred to The Committee on Finance
HR 2610	Reduce rate of gift & estate tax to 15% with a 5 Million exemption.	06-22-03	Peterson (R) (MN) 12 Co-sponsors 6 Democrats 6 Republicans	Referred to the House Ways and Means Committee
*2002*
S. 1731 Amended 2850	Sense of the Senate Permanent Death Tax Repeal	2-13-2002		56-42 Passed
H.R. 586	To make permanent all of the Bush Administration tax cuts enacted in June 2001	04-19-2001		229-198 Passed
H.R. 2143	Permanent Death Tax Repeal Bill Passed the House	6-06-2002		256-171 Passed
H.R 524	The Sense of the House that Congress should complete action on the Permanent Death Tax Repeal Act of 2002.	09-19-2002		242-158 Passed

"Progress of Permanent Death Tax Repeal"
*2003*
HR 8 Passed The House - "YES" Vote of 264-163; 41 Democrats Voted in Favor -Sitting at "Desk of Senate" (June 18, 2003)
Senator Kyl introduces Sense of the Senate for Permanent Death Tax Repeal (October 23, 2003)

*2002*
S. 1731, Senate Votes on and Passes Permanent Death Tax Repeal, Sense of the Senate 56-42 (February 13, 2002)
H.R. 586, House Passes "Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2002" which makes permanent all tax cuts enacted in June 2001 (April 14, 2002)
H.R. 2143, House Passes "Permanent Death Tax Repeal Bill" ~ 256-171
HR 8, Senate Vote Fails "Permanent Death Tax Bill" 54-44 ~ need 60 votes (June 13, 2002)
House Passes H.R. 524 to urge Senate to complete action of permanent death tax repeal; Vote 242-158 (September 19, 2002)

*2001*
HR 8, House Floor Vote Passed Estate Tax Repeal of 274-154; 58 Democrats Voting in Favor (April 4, 2001)
A modified version of HR 8 became part of H.R. 1836, Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act; became Law (June 7, 2001)

*2002*
HR 8, The Death Tax Elimination Act, Passed By The House, 279 "YES" ~ 136 "NO"; 65 Democrats Voted "YES" (June 9, 2000)
HR 8, The Death Tax Elimination Act, Passed The Senate, With a Vote of 59-39 (July 14, 2000)
HR 8 VETO Override Vote 274-157; 14 Votes Short of Override 13 Democrats Switched Their Votes To "NO" From Their Initial Vote of "YES" (September 7, 2000)

Last year, the House and Senate passed HR 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act. It moved through Congress with broad bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by President Clinton. An attempt to override the veto failed by a narrow margin of nine votes. This year with much closer margins in Congress, and a President in the White House who says he will sign a bill to eliminate the death tax, the effort to repeal this devastating tax is alive and well. But success this year depends on the willingness of all those who support repeal to communicate with their Members of Congress.

In the House, HR 8 , the Dunn-Tanner bill, has been re-introduced. This bill phases out the death tax over 10 years beginning in 2001 and also increases the unified credit immediately to $1.3 million. The House of Representatives is likely to act on the death tax in April, possibly before the Easter recess begins. Calls to your U.S. Representative asking for their vote to eliminate this punitive tax should be made immediately.

In the Senate, the Kyl-Breaux bill (S.275) has been reintroduced. This bill is considered to be a compromise approach, but is a far more effective approach than any of the other compromises offered up by those who oppose full repeal of the death tax. Last year this bill earned substantial bipartisan support. The Kyl-Breaux bill eliminates the death tax immediately, rather than phasing it out. However, it also eliminates the stepped up basis in capital gains for unrealized capital gains in excess of $2.8 million. Under this plan, there would be no tax payable at death, but if the heirs were to sell the asset after the death, a substantially higher capital gains tax would be payable. If the asset (business) is not sold, no tax is payable. The Senate is likely to take up tax legislation in May. Calls, letters and e-mails to Senators, particularly Democratic Senators, urging them to co-sponsor S. 275 are critical. Because of the very narrow margin in the Senate, gaining the support of Democratic Senators for S.275 is of great importance.

For people who care about eliminating this counterproductive tax on capital, now is the time to tell your representatives in Congress to bury the death tax for good.

HR 8 (HTML Format)
HR8.pdf (72 kb download)

S275 (HTML Format)
s275.pdf (40 kb download)

S35 (HTML Format)
s35.pdf (128 kb download)

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