Topics in the News: Death Tax
Hillary Clinton on Tax Reform
: Oct 30, 2007
Freeze estate tax at 2009 level of $7 million per couple
I'm in favor of doing something about the AMT. How we do it and how we put the package together everybody knows is extremely complicated. I want to get to a fair & progressive tax system. The AMT has to be part of what we try to change when I'm president
There are a lot of moving pieces here. There are kinds of issues we're going to deal with as the tax cuts expire. I want to freeze the estate tax at the 2009 level of $7 million for a couple. I'm not going to get committed to a specific approach.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate at Drexel University
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Too complex to get to FairTax; focus on reducing taxes
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax & capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I would say the most sensible thing to do is to simplify the tax code, reduce taxes, keep taxes low.
I think the flat tax and the FairTax are both very intriguing. And if we were starting off at the very beginning with taxation, the first argument I would make is let's not have any taxes. The second argument I would make is the
FairTax or the flat tax would probably be a better way to go.
Q: But you're not for the FairTax now, correct?
A: It would be too complex to get there. And somebody would have to show me how we're going to make that transition. And, also, the thought
that there wouldn't be an IRS with the FairTax--well, who is going to administer the sales tax? And who's going to administer the people that are exempt from the sales tax? And who is going to administer what items might be exempt from the sales tax?
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Tom Tancredo on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Co-sponsored FairTax because income tax manipulates behavior
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: The reason why we absolutely need to go to something like a FairTax--and I am a co-sponsor.
And by the way, if you don't understand how it would work, I would suggest to you that you read Neil Boortz's book and John Linder's. It's a perfect explanation of how it works. But the most important reason to move from an income tax to a
FairTax is because an income tax is designed to manipulate behavior. It gives the government the power to manipulate your behavior. "I reward you for the things I want you to do by giving you a tax cut. I penalize you for the things
I don't want you to do by raising your taxes." That is too much power for the federal government. It is always going to be an overreach of power.
Click for Tom Tancredo on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Mitt Romney on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Commission studied FairTax and found serious flaws
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: It's good, but it's not that good. There are a lot of features that are very attractive about a
FairTax. Getting rid of the IRS is something we'd all love. But the truth is, we're going to have to pay taxes. Completely throwing out our tax system and coming up with an entirely new one is something we have to do very, very carefully.
The president's commission on tax reform looked at this and said: Not a good idea. Some of the reasons are the FairTax, for instance, charges a 23% tax, plus state sales tax, on a new home, when you purchase a new home. But if you buy an old home,
there's no tax. Think what that might do to the construction industry. We need to thoroughly take it apart before we make a change of that nature. That's why my view is, get rid of the tax on savings and let middle-income people save their money tax-free
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Tax system penalizes productivity; needs complete overhaul
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I absolutely support the FairTax.
And part of the reason is, the current system is one that penalizes productivity. If we could have the FairTax, you take $10 trillion parked offshore, bring it home, you rebuild the "Made in America" brand, you free up people to earn money, to work,
you don't penalize them for taking a second job, you don't penalize them for investing, you don't penalize them for savings.
Today, our tax system doesn't need a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver, it needs a complete overhaul. And what the
FairTax does, it ends the underground economy. No more illegals, no more gamblers, prostitutes, pimps and dope dealers will be able to escape the tax code. It's the single great thing that will help this country [achieve a] revitalized economy.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Make tax reform commission & vote yes-or-no on outcome
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I believe that we've got to simplify the tax code. But one of the first areas we've got to go after
is the alternate minimum tax, which is going to eat in to 20 million American families if we don't eliminate it, and very quickly. Look, when we found out that Congress could not close a single military base when we had a huge number of them,
we appointed a commission and they said we would close so many bases, and Congress votes up or down. I would find [someone like former Federal Reserve Chairman] Alan Greenspan. I'd say, "Give us your recommendations." We'll pass a law, and we
will vote on Alan Greenspan and his commission's recommendations, yes or no, up or down. That's the way you're going to simplify the tax code, which now requires $140 billion of American families' income to prepare their tax returns.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Sam Brownback on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Supports optional flat tax in income tax; not FairTax
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I think we need to move toward an optional flat tax. I think we need to go to flat taxes.
And let me just say why. We've got a problem with the current tax code and we've tried to take it out. And every time you try to take it out, everybody comes to defend it that has something in it.
You can put an optional flat tax in the tax code and let people choose. And it will create economic growth. That's why 16 countries have already gone to a flat tax: It creates growth.
Growth is the key for us in this economy for us to get things moving forward.
Q: OK, but you're against the fair tax
Click for Sam Brownback on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Eliminate the death tax immediately
Eliminate the death tax. That should be eliminated immediately. It makes no sense at all. In 2010, the death tax is going to go to zero percent. And then it's going to go to 55% in 2011. You do not want to be on a respirator in 2010.
And then I would say the most sensible thing to do is to simplify the tax code, reduce taxes, keep taxes low.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
John Cox on Tax Reform
: Jul 2, 2007
Eliminate the Death Tax; veto all tax increases
As president, I will seek to eliminate the "death tax," and will veto all tax increase proposals.
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Source: Campaign website, cox2008.com
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: May 3, 2007
Adjust the alternative minimum tax & get rid of death tax
Q: Name a tax you'd like to cut.A: We have to adjust the alternative minimum tax. That has to be reduced. We have to get rid of the death tax. It's going to go to zero in 2010. And then in 2011, it's going to go to 55%.
And we have to make sure that the tax cuts that went into effect, that that level remains. Otherwise, we're going to have one of the biggest tax increases in history in 2011.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC
Chris Dodd on Tax Reform
: Feb 21, 2007
Moderate but keep the estate tax; incentivize middle class
Q: The benefits of President's Bush's tax cuts have overwhelmingly gone to the very wealthy. Meanwhile, federal revenues have dropped to the lowest share of our national wealth in decades. A: First of all, we need to have a program which focuses
attention on critically important domestic issues. We also need to make sure we don't allow these tax cuts to become permanent in this county. Providing that kind of benefit for people at the very top levels would be a mistake.
We're going to need not a repeal of the estate tax but to moderate it. But if we were to totally get rid of that, there would be a tremendous loss of revenues for the country.
And then we need to provide the kind of tax breaks and incentives for those in the middle-income category of our country so they can begin to grow and prosper and contribute more.
Click for Chris Dodd on other issues.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada
Barack Obama on Tax Reform
: Oct 1, 2006
Estate tax only affects the wealthiest 1/2 of 1%
We have to stop pretending that all cuts are equivalent or that all tax increases are the same. Ending corporate subsidies is one thing; reducing health-care benefits to poor children is something else. At a time when ordinary families are feeling hit
from all sides, the impulse to keep their taxes as low as possible is honorable. What is less honorable is the willingness of the rich to ride this anti-tax sentiment for their own purposes.Nowhere has this confusion been more evident than in the
debate surrounding the proposed repeal of the estate tax. As currently structured, a husband and wife can pass on $4 million without paying any estate tax. In 2009, this figure goes up to $7 million. The tax thus affects only the wealthiest one-third of
1% in 2009. Repealing the estate tax would cost $1 trillion, and it would be hard to find a tax cut that was less responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans or the long-term interests of the country.
Click for Barack Obama on other issues.
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.191-192
Dennis Kucinich on Tax Reform
: Jan 25, 2004
Keep child tax credit, and extend it to more families
Q: Which of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 would you change?A: I will repeal the tax cuts to the very wealthy, restoring the top two and a half income brackets and taxes on investments and estates (modifying the estate tax to protect small farms).
I will retain the child tax credit expansion and extend it to the low-income families who were left out. I will retain the elimination of the marriage penalty.
Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.
Source: Associated Press policy Q&A, "Taxes"
John Edwards on Tax Reform
: Sep 25, 2003
Shift tax burden from taxing work to taxing wealth
What Bush is doing is trying to shift the tax burden in America from wealth to work. He wants to eliminate the capital gains tax, the dividends tax, the estate tax, all the taxation of wealth or passive income on wealth, and shift that tax burden to
people who work for a living. It's an enormous mistake. What we ought to be doing instead is empowering [middle-class] families, helping them buy a house, helping them invest, lowering their capital gains rate. So we expand the investor class in America.
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Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Nov 1, 2000
Bush’s tax plan is class warfare on behalf of billionaires
Gore said Bush’s proposed elimination of the estate tax would give $25 billion to the wealthiest 3,000 families in America. “What he is really saying is a massive redistribution of wealth
from the middle class to the wealthiest few. It is in fact a form of class warfare on behalf of billionaires,” Gore says.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Katharine Q. Seelye, NY Times
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Oct 17, 2000
Except for wealthiest, exempt people from estate tax
GORE [to Bush]: Under the plan that I’ve proposed, 80 percent of all family farms will be completely exempt from the estate tax, and the vast majority of all family businesses would be
completely exempt, and all of the others would have sharply reduced. The problem with completely eliminating it goes back to the wealthiest 1 percent. The amount of money that has to be raised in taxes from middle class families would be a heavy burden.
BUSH: Eliminate the death tax completely because people shouldn’t be taxed twice on their assets. It’s either unfair for some or unfair for all. I think if you’ve got tax relief, everybody benefits.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: St. Louis debate
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Oct 17, 2000
$500B to people earning under $100K; via 30 targeted cuts
In the fierce debate over tax cuts between Gore and Bush, one fact has gone unnoticed: Both men would allocate roughly the same amount of money-$500 billion over nine years-to people making less than $100,000 a year. The other $800 billion of Bush’s
tax cut, including repeal of the estate tax, would mostly go to people in the wealthiest tax brackets. Gore offers virtually nothing for taxpayers making that much money. Gore selectively targets his tax cuts to married couples and families-single,
childless Americans are generally ignored-and also offers credits to nearly 30 million of the working poor who have little or no tax liability. Gore has proposed about 30 targeted tax cuts, generally in four areas: retirement
savings, health care, education and the environment. Bush, instead, emphasizes cutting tax rates, especially the highest rates, so that most of the cuts flow to the people who pay most of the taxes.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, p. A10
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Oct 11, 2000
Claim that Bush benefits “top 1%” only true with estate tax
GORE: Bush would spend more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% than all of the new spending he proposes for [social programs plus defense]. ANALYSIS: Gore uses a report by Citizens for Tax Justice, an advocacy organization whose mission
includes “requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share.” CTJ says that 42.6% ($546B) of Bush’s tax cut would go to the top 1% income group, those who earn at least $319,000 annually. CTJ INCLUDES repeal of the estate tax, which they say will help the
top 1% almost exclusively.
Gore has applied CTJ’s figure of 42.6% to the $1.3 trillion value that Bush gives his tax cut, and comes up with $546 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%. And he contrasts that with the roughly $475 billion in Bush’s
spending initiatives. But if the estate tax is REMOVED from the equation, Bush’s tax cut falls to $1.06 trillion and CTJ says 30% of it goes to the wealthiest 1%. That totals $318 billion, about $157 billion less than Bush’s new spending initiatives.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Presidential Debate, Boston Globe, “Number Crunch”, p. A15
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Sep 6, 2000
End marriage penalty; reform estate tax; targeted cuts
I’m fighting for a full range of targeted tax cuts for middle-class families. To help you save for college and retirement. To pay for health insurance and child care. To reform the estate tax. And to end the marriage penalty.
But let me say it plainly: I will not go along with a huge tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else and wreck our good economy in the process. Under the tax plan the other side has proposed, for every ten dollars that
goes to the wealthiest one percent, middle-class families would get one dime. And lower-income families would get one penny. It gives the most to those who need it the least -- and the least to
those who need it the most. And that’s just wrong. Instead, let’s cut taxes for the people who have the hardest time paying taxes and saving for the future.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Speech, “Prosperity For America’s Families,” Cleveland, OH
Al Gore on Tax Reform
: Jun 21, 2000
Eliminate estate taxes for the little guy, not the wealthy
Gore’s plan could eliminate estate taxes for more than 90% of family farms and more than 70% of small businesses. “Some on Capitol Hill believe we should completely repeal the estate tax and give a massive tax
break to the wealthiest Americans Under their plan, fully half the benefits go to less than 3,000 families.” Gore’s plan would raise the tax exemption from $2.6 million to $5 million for each family.
Click for Al Gore on other issues.
Source: Press Release, “Estate Tax Relief for Working Families”
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Feb 27, 2000
Double child tax credit; add family incentives
McCain’s tax plan would double the child tax credit to $1,000 a year, expand tax incentives for savings and investment, reduce the tax on large estates, and reduce the marriage penalty for some people increasing the standard deduction for couples. McCain
would offset a portion of the tax cuts by closing corporate tax loopholes. One analysis shows most tax cuts would go to the middle class, those earning between $39,000 & $130,000. The plan would do almost nothing for taxpayers with incomes below $39,000.
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Source: New York Times, p. 22
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Jan 22, 2000
Remove charitable deduction; it only benefits rich
McCain’s tax plan could cause charities, universities, & art museums to lose as much as $9 billion over 5 years, the Bush campaign charged. “Anything that would take money away from a charity is a step in the wrong direction,” Bush’s spokesman said.
According to McCain’s plan, people who give charitable contributions in the form of stock, real estate, bonds, or artwork could no longer take a tax deduction for the current, appreciated value of the gift. Instead, the donor could take a deduction only
for the original cost of the asset. The McCain campaign describes this as closing a loophole for the very rich, while the Bush campaign says it would kill off incentives for giving.
“Wealthy Americans shouldn’t get a tax write-off for contributing a
fancy painting or an overvalued stock,” said McCain’s spokesman. “Bush is protecting his wealthy donor base at the expense of the middle class.” By eliminating the deduction, the spokesman said, 25,000 additional working-class people would get a tax cut.
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Source: Boston Globe, p. A12
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Jan 11, 2000
Middle-class tax cut: expand 15% tax bracket
McCain will present today his first comprehensive plan for apportioning the spoils of the nation’s current prosperity, calling for a middle-class tax cut. The plan’s centerpiece is in expansion of the 15% income tax bracket, the lowest, to cover higher
income levels. It would also double the child credit, to $1,000, reduce the so-called marriage penalty paid by many two-income couples, create new tax incentives for savings, and cut the inheritance taxes on multi-million dollar estates.
His tax plan largely tracks a proposal he made last summer. New details include a proposal to pay for much of his tax cut by closing $150 billion worth of specific corporate tax loopholes over the next 5 years. Under McCain’s plan, the ceiling for
the 15% tax bracket would rise to $70,000 for couples filing jointly and to $35,000 for single people. Its primary benefits would therefore go to people currently in the 28% tax bracket, couples earning over $43,050 and single people earning over $25,750
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: New York Times, p. A21
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Dec 9, 1999
Eliminated sales tax on clothes; reduced real estate tax
- The Mayor fought for - and won - a complete elimination of sales tax on all clothing and footwear under $110 beginning December 1, 1999. During the City’s most recent tax-free week, sales were reported to have risen over 70%.
- Effective
December 1, 1999 the tax rate will drop from 3.9% to 3.4%, and will drop to 3.0% effective June 1, 2001
- There will be a continuation of real property tax relief for Co-op and condo owners.
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Source: RudyYes.com, “Proven Leadership” web site
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Dec 7, 1999
1st step to simplify taxes: close special interest loopholes
FORBES [to McCain]: Cutting the capital gains tax is key to a prosperous future. In New Hampshire you indicated support for a flat tax and I was wondering if you might put flesh on those bones and tell us what you have in mind for tax reform?
MCCAIN: I want to thank you for your efforts on behalf of a flat tax. I think we’ve got to eliminate the marriage penalty, the earnings test, raise the 15% tax bracket, put a level of $5 million on the inheritance tax. But this tax code is 44,000 pages
long. It’s an abomination. It’s a cornucopia of good deals for the special interests and it’s a nightmare for American citizens. We’ve got to get rid of the special interest loopholes that are right in this tax code. That’s the first
step in cleaning it up to reach your goal of a simplified tax system. I appreciate your efforts. But until the day arrives when we remove the influence of the special interests, we’re not going to be able to achieve your goal.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: (cross-ref. from Forbes) Phoenix Arizona GOP Debate
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Sep 27, 1999
Cut marriage tax, inheritance tax, & earnings test
I will:- repeal the indefensible tax penalty that punishes couples who want to get married
- slash the inheritance tax that penalizes those who wish to leave the fruits of their labor to their children
- end the earnings test penalty for seniors
that taxes their income twice and denies them the self-respect that comes from working
- dramatically increase the number of Americans who qualify for the lowest tax rate of fifteen percent by raising the eligible income to $70,000 per couple.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: Candidacy Declaration Speech, Nashua NH