As a Senator, Hillary Clinton voted to filibuster a bill to fully repeal the death tax, voting no on H.R. 8, the “Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005.”
The legislation passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 272-162, however it was blocked by Clinton and her left wing allies in the Senate on a cloture vote of 57-41. Cloture rules in the Senate set a 60 vote threshold in order to break a filibuster (an attempt to block or delay) on a piece of legislation.
Studies by the Joint Economic Committee, and the Tax Foundation have found that the Death Tax hurts economic growth, discourages saving, and hinders small business entrepreneurship. In addition, compliance costs associated with the death tax are so burdensome that they are roughly equal to the amount of revenue raised – making this tax one of the most inefficient revenue sources in the nation.
Despite this tax falling on American small businesses and families, Hillary Clinton dismissed it as a “wealth tax.”
The 2005 vote was just one of many times Hillary Clinton voted to preserve the death tax. In 2001 she voted no on a series of tax cuts that increased the death tax exemption to $3.5 million. Clinton again voted no on legislation to increase the death tax exemption in 2006 and 2008.