Saturday, July 29, 2006
Paris Hilton gets her tax cut
The Republicans forced an unneeded cut in the estate tax through the House by tying it to a much needed hike in the minimum wage. So, even though the estate tax touches less than 1% of Americans, the Republicans have given away more in revenue than the meager wage hike will raise from increased income to 30% of American workers. And all this so that Republicans can pretend they are doing something in DC.
Check here to see how your Congressmoop voted.
Republicans muscled the first minimum wage increase in a decade through the House early Saturday after pairing it with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.So now Paris Hilton can keep the family farm and the Waltons can keep the family store. That makes me feel so much better.
Combining the two issues provoked protests from Democrats and was sure to cause problems in the Senate, where the minimum wage initiative was likely to die at the hands of Democrats opposed to the costly estate tax cuts. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation next week.
Still, GOP leaders saw combining the wage and tax issues as their best chance for getting permanent cuts to the estate tax, a top GOP priority fueled by intense lobbying by farmers, small business owners and super-wealthy families such as the Waltons, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune.
"This is the best shot we've got; we're going to take it," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. The unusual packaging also soothed conservatives angry about raising the minimum wage over opposition by GOP business allies.
Check here to see how your Congressmoop voted.
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