Schumer: Republicans cater to ultra-wealthy with estate tax repeal

Harriet Tubman Home: Sen. Charles Schumer news conference

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says Republicans are catering to the "ultra-wealthy" by trying to repeal the federal tax on estates worth more than $5.4 million. Schumer is shown April 10, 2015, during a visit to the Harriet Tubman Home & Visitor Center in Auburn, N.Y. Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com

(Ellen M. Blalock)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Friday accused House Republicans of passing an estate tax loophole that would benefit only a few thousand of America's wealthiest families.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said the House vote Thursday to repeal the estate tax "amounts to nothing more than a budget-busting tax giveaway that would explode the deficit for the benefit of a handful of multi-millionaires."

Schumer, the likely successor to Sen. Harry Reid as the Democratic Senate leader in 2016, said he wants to work with Republicans on tax reform. But he said the GOP has the wrong priorities by targeting a tax that affects only the richest 5,400 families in the United States.

The tax applies to the value of an estate above $5.4 million for individuals, which is taxed at a 40 percent rate before the assets can be inherited by surviving family members. House Republicans called their bill the Death Tax Repeal Act.

"At a time when we should be working to make our tax code fairer and simpler, House Republicans added yet another loophole that caters exclusively to just a few thousand of the ultra-wealthy," Schumer said.

He added, "Our priority should be working on behalf of all Americans, not rigging the rules in favor of the wealthiest Americans and powerful special interests."

House Republicans including Reps. John Katko, R-Camillus, and Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, say the tax unfairly penalizes family farms and small business owners, who are sometimes forced to sell assets to pay the estate tax.

Democrats say those claims are exaggerated. A U.S. Department of Agriculture study found only 0.6 percent of farms would have to pay an estate tax.

The House bill now moves to the Senate, where Democrats are expected to use procedural moves to try to block a vote. President Barack Obama has also threatened to veto the measure if it reaches the White House, noting it would add about $270 billion over 10 years to the federal budget deficit.

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