Timber tax cut puts two U.S. senators in a tight spot (Washington State)

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON -- For months, Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have argued, begged and maneuvered -- unsuccessfully -- to win a lucrative tax break for timber companies, a major source of jobs and political power in the Northwest.

And for just as long, Democrats Murray and Cantwell have repeatedly voted against full repeal of the estate tax, insisting that Republican proposals are an excessive gift to the super rich that will balloon an already enormous deficit. Instead, Murray and Cantwell have advocated more modest reform of a tax that, under current law, hits heirs of estates worth more than $2 million.

Now those unconnected issues have been joined in a make-or-break campaign by Republicans aimed squarely at Murray, Cantwell and a select few senators. In an effort to squeeze out the additional votes they need in the Senate to pass a major cut in the estate tax, Republicans added a timber provision that would exclude from the highest corporate tax rate 60 percent of timber sales for such companies as Weyerhaeuser and International Paper.

. . .

Murray and Cantwell have both said they are undecided about their vote, which is now expected after the Senate returns from the July 4th break. Their public comments on a bill the House passed June 22 have been underwhelming.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/275816_taxbreaks29.html

[Lasher]

1. Looks like a good case for a filibuster

Why don't more people get it? Republicans are presiding over a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the richest 1% of Americans. Republicans are for rich people. Democrats are for everybody else.

[NorthernSun]

2. Sounds like they asked for it

I wonder how much campaign cash they get from the timber giants?

[maxsolomon]

3. a sizeable amount

in washington state, boeing & timber call the tune. the senators dance.

weyerhauser does not need a tax break. they're raping the land as it is, hiring professional hunters to kill bears in spring for 'resource protection'.

[sam sarrha]

4. so timber bribes senators and they bribe party and party bribes senators.!

there has to be some jail time in there somewhere:shrug:

[sam sarrha]

5. the timber sales cost WA billions to give the trees away, the Timber Co's

rig the bid for the public land, then they bribed the legislature to require the state to do the environmental impact reports and cut the roads into the sale lots.. 12 years ago that was about a 3 billion dollar loss to the state to make the rich richer and destroy all the Salmon breeding beds in the rivers, when they clear cut the mountain sides above Quilcine WA it washed so much gravel into the river thru town it literally filled river beds to the road level and washed it away.. people on one side of town had to drove about 20 miles around to just get across the street to the store.. Warehouser said they bring 600 jobs to the town.. very small town, and they did..

they brought their own crew of 595 and only hired 5 people for the jobs where you lose your hands