U.S.

Clinton Vetoes Estate Tax Repeal

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 24, 2000 / 9:30 AM EDT / CBS

Saying "unless someone stops it, the snowball will turn into an avalanche," President Clinton vetoed another GOP tax cut Thursday. Mr. Clinton rejected the Republican version of estate-tax reform in a ceremony at the White House.

"I believe that this estate tax bill is part of series of actions...that would take us back to the bad old days," Mr. Clinton said.

Mr. Clinton stressed that a narrower version of such a bill, targeted at farming families, would be acceptable. But he said the main beneficiaries of the bill in its current form would be about 3,000 very rich families in the United States.

Thursday's veto followed on the heels of a Clinton veto of the so-called "marriage penalty" tax bill. And it comes as Democrats turn up the election-year political heat on Republicans presidential candidate George W. Bush's sweeping tax-cut proposals.

House Republican leaders vowed a prompt attempt to override the veto. But Thursday night, top GOP officials were admitting they didn’t have enough support for an override.

Republicans said Thursday they will make sure voters understand that if Congress remains in GOP control and George W. Bush wins the White House over Al Gore, the estate tax will undoubtedly be repealed.

"This choice is clear: Al Gore and the Democrats will continue the death tax, and Governor Bush and the Republicans will end it," said Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Democrats, however, say the GOP refused to consider less-costly compromise provisions to help the family farmers and small businesses sometimes hit hard by estate taxes, such as raising exemptions for them without giving a windfall to the wealthiest taxpayers.

"Americans do not want election-year antics such as Republicans passing bills designed to be vetoed just so they can have some talking points," said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, the senior Ways and Means Committee Democrat.

A week ago, using a shiny red tractor to dramatize the impact on some farmers, Republican congressional leaders sent the White House the completed bill to repeal estate taxes.

"Mr. President, please don't veto this bill," said Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., after the bill was carted away from Capitol Hill aboard the tractor through busy Washington streets to the White House.

Mr. Clinton quipped Thursday that he could drive a tractor better than any of the families who would be the main beneficiaries of the GOP estate tax repeal.

CBS News Capitol Hill Correspondent Bob Fuss reports the legislation, which would gradually phase out the tax over 10 years at a cost of $105 billion, passed the House and Senate earlier this summer with sizable Democratic support. But Republican leaders kept the bill tucked away on Capitol Hill, waiting for an opportune time to send it to Mr. Clinton.

Sixty-five Democrats joined all Republicans in the House vote to pasthe estate tax repeal bill in June, exceeding the two-thirds threshold necessary to override a veto. But House Democrats say a combination of absentees and a handful of switched votes will give them the margin to sustain the veto.

Heirs of only about 2 percent of all Americans who die each year are forced to pay estate taxes, mainly because of a $675,000 individual exemption that a married couple can double with simple planning steps. The exemptions are even higher for farmers and small businesses, but many are still forced to buy costly insurance policies and pay lawyers and accountants to protect hard-earned assets from a tax that reaches 55 percent.