Hastert Responds to Democrats Opposition to Death Tax Override

September 7, 2000


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made the following statement today:

     "Today Congress could have stopped using taxes to break up family farms. We could have stopped using taxes to crush mom and pop stores. We could have stopped using taxes to prevent the growth of Internet start-ups. Instead, we failed to overturn the President's veto and kill this death tax once and for all.
I say to the President - this veto does not mean that money is now available for bigger Washington spending.
     "When business owners die, the IRS swoops in and can take more than half of what they built. Their children are forced to either rebuild the business - or just sell it and give up their parents' legacies.
     "Originally, 65 Democrats stood with us and told the American people that they wanted an end to this tax that penalizes our nation's entrepreneurs. Today, rather than do what's right and overturn the President's veto, many Democrats walked away from their earlier commitment to end this death tax.

     "Contrary to the President's perception, the death tax does not affect the rich. It affects any farmer who owns a tractor and a few hundred acres of land - farmers who already have spent their whole lives paying taxes on their property. These people represent rural America - not America's elite. Don't let the President mislead you.

     "People in this country are paying too much in taxes and now we have a surplus of money in the government. We can either give it back in the form of tax relief or debt reduction. I say to the President - this veto does not mean that money is now available for bigger Washington spending. We will send this money back to the people or we will use this $28 billion to pay off our debt. We will not use it to expand the government. This is not - let me repeat not - new money for the Democrats to spend. This is the people's $28 billion and they deserve to get it back one way or another."