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To: long-gone who wrote (56286)	7/15/2000 5:01:05 PM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116834

Report: White House knew EPA rules would spur gas prices Saturday, July 15, 2000 12:34 AM EDT WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- The White House apparently was aware that new requirements for cleaner-burning RFG gasoline would send pump prices soaring in the Midwest. The Washington Times reported Saturday that a June Department of Energy memo warned that Chicago-area refineries could not make enough RFG to prevent higher prices.

To: long-gone who wrote (56286)	7/15/2000 5:13:31 PM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116834

OT Hope Congress Has The Guts To Pass This Bill. Gov't is a Rip Off. Leave The People Alone: U.S. Senate Approves Bill Repealing Estate Tax Over 10 Years Friday, July 14, 2000 03:52 PM EDT WASHINGTON (July 14) XINHUA - U.S. Senate approved Friday a Republican bill that would eliminate estate taxes over the next decade in defiance of a veto threat by President Bill Clinton who has called the legislation a tax benefit for the rich. (BS IMO) The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 59-39, which would completely eliminate the estate tax by 2010 at a cost of about 105 billion U.S. dollars in government revenue. The vote was well short of the two-thirds necessary to override a veto. Republican supporters said the estate tax, which reaches a top rate of 55 percent, hinders investment and job creation, forces millions of people to do costly estate planning and particularly hurts farmers and small businesses. The bill, which passed the House in June, would cut the top 55 percent estate tax rate in 2001 and then gradually phase out all other rates, with full repeal coming in 2010. The cost was estimated at 105 billion dollars during the phaseout, ballooning to 750 billion dollars in the decade after repeal would be in effect fully. Republicans said the government's revenue loss would be cushioned somewhat because the bill changes the way assets are valued, known as basis, so that an heir would owe higher capital- gains taxes than under current law once an inherited asset is sold. Capital-gains tax rates, however, are much lower than estate tax rates. Democrats said the big cost of repeal and the fact that heirs of only 2 percent of people who die pay estate taxes was evidence that Republicans wanted mainly to help the rich. In 1997, for example, only 43,000 estates out of 2.7 million adult deaths were subject to the estate tax. But the Senate voted 53-46 against a Democratic substitute costing 64 billion dollars over 10 years that would have sharply raised estate tax exemptions, now 675,000 dollars per individual, particularly for the farmers and small businesses that are hurt the most. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Clinton would certainly veto the bill and that Democrats would be able to sustain it. Both sides used the debate to highlight some of their other tax cut priorities. In some cases, the votes were intended mainly for political consumption by senators up for re-election this year. Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY News provided by COMTEX comtexnews.com