Senate Fails to Consider Estate Tax Bill

On June 8, 2006, the U.S. Senate failed to clear a procedural hurdle necessary to consider an estate tax repeal bill (H.R. 8). The vote on the motion to proceed to the bill failed to garner the 60 votes necessary. The final tally was 57-41.

Most observers agreed that at least one of the 60-vote hurdles on the path to repeal was destined to fail, but the vote to block the bill from even coming to the floor had greater political overtones. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) hopes the Senate can hammer out a compromise to be considered sometime later this year. There are a significant number of Democrats who want to address estate tax reform, but the latest proposal failed to generate the necessary Democratic support. Democrats appear to be more interested in increasing the exemption amount while Republicans are more interested in lowering the rates, and most agree that reconciling those two interests will be the key to reaching a deal.

For more information, Please contact Serena Davila at FEI (sdavila@FinancialExecutives.org).