[Peace-discuss] Call for fair taxes (fwd)

[patton paul]

Reagan and Bush Sr. ran up three quarters of our national debt by a
combination of tax cuts and military spending.  Now its Bush Jr.'s turn.
While everybody is talking about war with Iraq, the Republicans want to
change the rules to make it easier to abolish the Estate Tax.  Details in
the Moveon.org e-mail below.
-Paul Patton

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 26 Sep 2002 23:41:21 -0000
From: "Peter Schurman, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Randall Nelson <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Call for fair taxes

Dear MoveOn member,

Since you've been part of our campaign to preserve the Estate Tax on
the very rich, here's some news we think you should know.  Although
the Iraq and terrorism debates have trumped nearly everything else
in D.C., it seems some important tax matters will also be moving soon.

As you know, Estate Tax repeal has passed, but will phase in slowly, and
will only be fully in effect for one year before the tax is reinstated.
That's because a "supermajority" of 60 votes is now required to pass
tax cuts that un-balance the budget, like Estate Tax repeal.  The Estate
Tax repeal is temporary because it passed with less than 60 votes.

The budget rules requiring the supermajority are crucial to preventing
permanent repeal of the Estate Tax.  Those rules themselves are set to
expire on October 1st unless the Senate extends them.  If they expire,
and tax cuts can be passed by a simple majority, it will be much harder
to protect the Estate Tax from permanent repeal.

The good news is, it appears that there is now bipartisan support for
extending the Senate budget rules for one year.  Sen. Lott is
reportedly supporting this effort, and there seem to be enough votes to
pass it.  However, we have also heard that there may be an effort by
one or more Senators to block extension of the budget rules to allow
--what else?--more tax cuts to be pushed through.

Since extension of these rules is so critical, we urge you to contact
your Senators at:

  Senator Richard J. Durbin
  DC Phone:    202-224-2152
  Local Phone: 217-492-4062

  Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald
  DC Phone:    202-224-2854
  Local Phone: 217-492-5089

Be sure they know you are a constituent, then please urge them to

  "Vote FOR extension of the budget enforcement rules."

This matter is expected to come up during the next few days, perhaps as
soon as the end of the week.  Please make your calls now.

Finally, please let us know you've called, at:

http://www.moveon.org/callmade_esttax.html?id=776-55226-xrcsXvtn0vuFhQchDtqWpQ

Keeping a count helps make this work more effective.

We thank our friends at OMBWatch for alerting us to this news.

Sincerely,

- Peter Schurman
  Executive Director
  MoveOn.org
  September 26, 2002
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