Estate Tax Repeal Provisions NOT Included in Pension Reform Bill

Category: Estate and Inheritance Tax

From Dow Jones Market Watch, news that Estate Tax Repeal Provisions will not be slipped into the Pension Reform Bill.

Last week as reported here there was an unannouced Senate vote to permanently repeal the Estate Tax. It was defeated 57-41 (60 needed to break a filibuster). The Republican Majority then said they would add the Estate Tax Repeal provision to the Pension Reform Bill under debate. Now news from Washington that Estate Tax Repeal will NOT be added to the Pension Reform Bill, but be part of a new package later this year. Hopefully, this time the vote on the Estate Tax Repeal will be announced to the public so as to be open for public debate.

Tax provisions may be dropped from pension bill - MarketWatch: "Senate Republicans gave up Monday on efforts to add language that would reduce the estate tax to legislation designed to overhaul the nation's pension laws, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday.

And Republican lawmakers may also remove a range of other less-controversial tax measures from the bill, including renewal of the already-expired research-and-development tax credit, in hopes that those measures can be combined with the estate-tax measure at a later date, congressional aides said.

Meanwhile, House and Senate negotiators continued to haggle over provisions of the pension bill, including easier funding terms for troubled airlines and whether to allow financial-services firms to provide investment advice to 401(k) and investment retirement account holders, in the hope of producing a final piece of legislation before Friday, when House members are scheduled to begin a five-week summer recess. "