Sojourners/Call to Renewal on Defeat of the "Trifecta" bill (Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act)

This comes from Sojourners. It is interesting to note that both of Alaska’s senators, Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski voted in favor of this bill.

August 4, 2006

American inequality almost took a giant step forward with the Senate's effort to gut the estate tax. And it's unconscionable that House leaders pushed this effort at the expense of a straightforward vote to help working families by a long overdue raise in the minimum wage.

When a nation is at war, when deficits are rising at record rates, and when everyone knows that even more budget cuts are coming that will directly and negatively impact the nation's poorest families and children, you don't give more tax breaks to the super-rich. Those who want to retain the estate tax are willing to reform it to make sure that family farmers and small business people are not adversely affected. But this bill is a misguided ploy that highlights the failure of our political leadership.

We must continue the moral resistance to such unbalanced social policies and a lack of political integrity that allows a process like this to happen. In the name of social conscience, fiscal responsibility, equality of opportunity, protecting our communities, and the very idea of a "common good," it's time for the moral center of American public opinion to say "enough." We thank those senators who did just that by opposing this bill.

It is important that the minimum wage be increased. But the long-term damage this bill would do offsets the gains from a wage increase for poor Americans. This political manipulation is unjust. It disrespects those working hard and playing by the rules, as well as all of us looking for better political leadership.

Contact: Yonce Shelton, senior policy director,
202-328-8745 x603
yshelton@sojo.net