Floyd Norris: A tax repeal is blown off course - Business - International Herald Tribune

Floyd Norris: A tax repeal is blown off course - Business - International Herald Tribune: "Floyd Norris: A tax repeal is blown off course
Floyd Norris International Herald Tribune

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005
Hurricane Katrina may have cost very wealthy Americans a lot of money.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it may have cost their heirs a lot of money.

The cost came not from the direct effect of the disaster. It came because the hurricane's impact on the poor people who remained in New Orleans made it politically unattractive for the Senate to vote on repealing the estate tax this week.

Such a vote is still possible in the congressional session, however, and if that does not pass there is some speculation that a compromise to slash estate tax rates by two-thirds might be approved.