Bill Might Tie Estate Tax Reform To Minimum Wage Hike

By Matt Brady

July 21, 2006 at 08:43 PM

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Some Democrats want to link cuts in estate taxes with an increase in the income of the country's poorest workers.

Leaders of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, Falls Church, Va., say they are hearing talk of efforts to combine a minimum wage increase provision and an aggressive estate tax reduction provision in a single bill.

Talks about creating a 2-headed estate tax/minimum wage bill are focusing on S. 3626, which was introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D.-La., in June.

S. 3626 would establish an exemption of $5 million per individual or $10 million per couple along with a top estate tax rate of 35%.

Landrieu says her proposal would cost the federal government much less tax revenue than repealing the estate tax would cost it.

But "such a proposal, that would cost nearly as much as repeal from a revenue perspective, would be an unsustainable result," says AALU President Dermot Healey.

The AALU is supporting a proposal that would include an exemption of $2.5 million per individual and a top rate of 45%.

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