August 30, 2000

Avoiding override would be right move

A couple of weekends ago, before teeing off on a round of golf in Martha's Vineyard, President Clinton vetoed legislation that would have eliminated the approximately $1,600 marriage tax penalty and removed many lower-income people from the tax rolls altogether. This Clinton had the arrogance to label a tax cut "for the rich."

And now he threatens to veto repeal of the death tax, a tax that collects little revenue but imposes terrible costs on family run small businesses and farms.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert succinctly summarized the case for repeal while visiting a South Carolina farmer's market: "This unfair tax is so steep that sometimes the deceased owner's children must break up a farm or sell a business just to cover the tax. Your children should not have to sell what you have worked your whole lives to produce."

But Clinton is more interested in election-year politics, and he thinks he can portray death tax repeal as a plum for the so-called rich &emdash; thus a veto threat.

There probably are enough votes on Capitol Hill to override a veto, and if Clinton insists on playing politics with Americans' life works, then congressional leaders should make override a top priority when they return to Washington. Clinton, for his part, should show a bit of decency toward small business families and sign it into law and save Congress the trouble.