Investor's Business Daily: Kudos To House GOP For Passing Bill To Kill Death Tax

Republican leaders have been scolded for not doing more in their first 100 days in charge of Congress, but one victory deserves applause: the House's 240-179 vote Thursday to kill the hated and unfair death tax.

We'll see if economic common sense prevails in the Senate to get the required 60 votes or if the redistributionists who run the Democratic Party in Washington derail this tax reform.

President Obama, class warrior in chief, has already vowed to veto any repeal of the estate tax. That's a shame, but it's still worth it to send a repeal bill to his desk. Let him kill it and then campaign on it in 2016.

The White House says it would rather invest in jobs, but as Dick Patten of the American Busines Defense Council puts it: "Someone has to alert this administration that most jobs come from small- and medium-sized, family-owned businesses, and if you tax away their profits, the number of jobs goes down, not up."

Democrats and liberal interest groups are enraged over the House vote, and they are screaming, "Tax cuts for billionaires!"

The public doesn't agree with them. Polls consistently show that 60% to 70% of voters hate this tax. The vast majority will never pay it, but it's in Americans' DNA to aspire someday to be rich, and we don't want government taking up to half our fortunes if that ship sails in.

Americans seem to get it that people pay taxes their whole life on their income, so why should they pay it again when they are laid to rest? This contradicts Americans' basic sense of fairness — as well it should.

Economists argue that the death tax reduces capital investment and lifetime savings. Worse still, it has created a whole industry of accountants and lawyers to find clever ways around the levy.

What seems to drive this debate is a near-pathological hatred on the left of wealth and success.

But this tax doesn't have much impact at all on improving the plight of the poor.

According to IRS statistics, in 2013 the estate tax raised $12.7 billion, or 0.5%, of all federal revenues. Steve Entin of the Tax Foundation estimates that because the tax reduces capital investment in family businesses, the impact of the tax on federal revenues may even be negative over time.

The last time this issue came up for a vote, back in 2005, 40 Democrats voted for repeal. Last week, only seven did. Those who bucked their party leadership deserve commendation: Brad Ashford of Nebraska, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Jim Costa of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Sad that there aren't more like them.

When the Senate votes on death tax repeal in the weeks ahead, we suspect that voters will be watching closely. We hope they then act accordingly.