DeMint Upset Estate Tax Not Eliminated

The estate tax plank of the tax deal consummated between the White House and congressional Republicans has upset some people on both sides of the aisle. Liberals say it doesn’t raise estate taxes, which were eliminated for this year only, enough. And some conservatives complain that the tax should be dropped permanently, The Hill reports.

“On the surface it looks like a tax increase,” Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., tells the news service. The conservative Club for Growth and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., agree. DeMint says he will try to filibuster the measure in the Senate.

“We think that if you’re going to extend the current tax rates, then you need to extend all of them, including the death tax at zero percent,” the Club for Growth’s vice president of government affairs, Andrew Roth, tells The Hill.