Masonry Magazine August 1997 Page. 9
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Confirmation of Alexis Herman as Labor Secretary was delayed until the President agreed to rescind the order and issue instead a presidential memorandum which would have much the same affect but would expire after Clinton's term ends. An executive order would remain in effect until a new president rescinded it.
Death and Capital Gains Reductions
Long sought by small family owned businesses, some limited capital gains tax and estate tax reductions may clear Congress and be signed by President Clinton later this summer. Estate taxes have been viewed by most small business owners as offensive and anti- thrift. Many small businesses, which employ the vast majority of Americans, often are faced with the sale of the family-owned business when the principle owner dies just to pay the Estate Tax or "Death Tax" as it is now known by many small business owners. At the present time, when the owner of a family business dies, the value of the company is added to the owner's estate and taxed, after exemptions, at rates as high as fifty percent. Many heirs find it impossible to pay the taxes, forcing the sale or liquidation of the business.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Bill Archer submitted his tax bill on Monday, June 9 which includes some provision for both estate tax and capital gains tax relief. Estate Tax and Capital Gains Tax relief was agreed to by both President Clinton and Congressional leaders in the Budget Agreement agreed to in principle early this spring. However, the actual details of the amount of relief was to be left for the House and Senate Committees to iron out. Any agreement that would be reached must fall within the $85 billion tax relief number which must include all tax relief as well as the $500 tax credit for families with children.
Clearly, there will be some winners and many loosers in the bid for tax relief. Under the Ways and Means bill, families will receive a $400 credit per child next year and it will be bumped to $500 the following year. Estate tax relief will take the form of a ratching up of the $600,000 to $1,000,000 by the year 2014. The $400,000 increase will be made up of $20,000 increases per year until 2002 and $25,000 per year until 2014. Although viewed by many as tax relief, it amounts to little more than indexing over the next 16 years. Many members of Congress sought either outright repeal of both the estate tax and capital gains or at least a raising of the exemption to $1.2 million with indexing taking effect after the increase in the exemption but given the ground rules of the budget agreement limiting the total tax relief at $85 billion, it is highly unlikely to gain the real relief needed in the estate and capital gains areas.
Also under the Ways and Means plan, the capital gains rate will be reduced from the maximum 29 percent to 20 percent for upper income brackets with a further reduction to 10 percent for the lowest income brackets. All tax bills originate in the House Ways And Means Committee, the Senate will act on tax relief next. Then both bills will go to a Conference Committee comprised of both Senators and Representatives to resolve differences in both bills.
OSHA Reform
The desire to remake OSHA into a more reasonable and responsive agency has been a long-standing goal of business. Since its creation in 1970, the agency has been considered the source of overburdensome and