June 22, 2006 02:08 PM | Permalink | 
Last week, Senate Republicans failed in their effort to permanently repeal the federal estate tax. Now tax writers in the House of Representatives are working to enact “compromise” legislation that would cost almost as much as full repeal—and GOP leaders are adding “sweeteners” to the estate tax bill to encourage more Senators to support this legislation. One of these provisions, a special capital gains tax break for timber companies, would likely result in profitable timber companies paying no tax. According to the Washington Post, the provision is designed to sway the votes of two Democratic Senators from Washington State (a major timber-producing state) who opposed estate tax repeal in last week’s Senate vote.
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