WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will bring a bill permanently cutting the estate tax to the floor if he can be sure it will get a vote.
That means the Tennessee Republican must be sure of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the measure, a companion to a bill that passed the House last week, the Christian Science Monitor reported. The bill is a substitute for total repeal.
The bill would increase the size of estates exempt from the tax to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for couples and reduce the percentage taken by the estate tax to the level of the capital gains tax, which is currently 15 percent. For estates of more than $25 million, the rate would be double the capital gains rate.
Under the temporary tax cuts passed by Congress a few years ago, the exemption is gradually phased out, with no exemption in 2010, followed by a return to the $1 million exemption and rates as high as 55 percent in 2011.
At least two Republicans, George Voinovich of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, oppose large cuts to the estate tax along with a majority of Democrats.
