Boehner Pressured to Call Vote On “Death Tax” Repeal

Speaker John Boehner has received pressure from the House Republican freshman class to repeal the federal estate tax, also known as the “death tax,” to a vote on the House floor. Rep. Kevin Brady introduced the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2011 in March of last year. The Act has 206 House co-sponsors (including four Democrats). Republican John Thune proposed a version of the same Act in the Senate in March of this year; that Act currently has 36 sponsors.

GOP freshman class president Rep. Austin Scott stated in public letter to Boehner, “[Congressional Republicans] are eager to present a clear choice to voters: Support the Republican plan to bury the death tax or support Democrats’ plan to hike the death tax to a crushing 45 percent rate, or higher.” Scott further stated, “The American people favor the Republican proposal—consistently 60-70 percent of voters want the death tax buried permanently.”

See Christopher Bedford, House GOP Freshman Pressure Boehner to Call Vote On ‘Death Tax’ Repeal, Apr. 30, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.