This week, by a vote of 240-179 that broke down largely on partisan lines, House Republicans voted to repeal the estate tax. The Hill reports that “killing off the estate tax would increase the deficit by $269 billion over a decade.” It’s not clear whether the bill will make it through the Senate — 54 senators went on record supporting it earlier this year — and the White House says it will veto it.
The bill is a longtime priority of the Republican party. The campaign to end the so-called “death tax” was started by a group of wealthy Republicans in the 1990s. In this 2003 clip from NOW, Bill talks with two millionaires who support the tax. William Gates, Sr., and Chuck Close talk about the history of the movement to repeal the inheritance tax and their opinion that it is a fair tax that should remain in place.
Read the transcript of the whole interview »
