WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 17, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Charles B. Rangel, who represents the 13th Congressional District of New York that includes Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, spoke on the House floor in opposition to H.R. 1105, which would repeal the Estate Tax. Below is the transcript of his remarks:
“Having served on the Ways and Means Committee for decades, it’s a little embarrassing to see us debating a bill that goes nowhere. This is a political action that’s taken by the majority to select provisions that are in the tax code, to have those of us that advocate tax reform to just select those parts that appear to be very popular with some of our constituencies. There’s nobody in this House that truly believes that this legislation, if passed, ever would become law, but it is something to be using in political campaigns as to what you voted for and why you voted against it.
To listen to the other side talk, we have some very, very rich fathers. And just because they are in the family doesn’t mean that they are not wealthy. First of all, let’s go to the video. Let’s go to the facts and find out how many people are going to be affected. The statistics show that 99.8% of the population of those people who died don’t pay taxes. Who are we talking about? We are talking about a few rich people that are .2% of those people that will be eligible for a tax, and those only after we estimate that the value of their estate of $5 million for one person and $10 million for two. I’m not saying that for these people. It’s not going to be inconvenient. But when you think about the number of people that pay taxes, that are working hard every day, are trying to save money for their — their kids’ education, then this really means that hundreds of billions of dollars are being set aside for those people that already have.
If we really want equity, if we really want fair play, why don’t we take a look at the entire tax code. Why are we just looking about the estate tax, local and estate tax because equity is how much money are you raising and how much money do you need?”
