Senate Democrats Block GOP Effort to Speed Up Elimination of Death Tax

On Friday, State Senate Democrats killed a Republican amendment to speed up the elimination of the death tax.

“This vote is a clear indication of where senators stand on eliminating the death tax,” stated Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, the amendment’s author. “Senate Republicans want to provide family farms and small businesses with relief from the death tax more quickly, while Senate Democrats want to make them wait until the year 2010 for this unfair tax to be eliminated.”

Coffee’s amendment would have fully eliminated the death tax on July 1, 2007, two-and-a-half years earlier than scheduled in Senate Bill 1172xx, an omnibus tax cut bill. But Senate Democrats used a procedural move to cut off Coffee’s amendment during Friday afternoon’s special session meeting.

The vote to cut off the Coffee amendment was along party lines.