Carnahan is rewriting history

By Rhoda Reeves

U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan voted in favor of the death tax. Now she is trying to rewrite history in her June 22 letter to the editor in the Southeast Missourian.

Carnahan claims that by voting for the death tax she was trying to help owners of small businesses and farmers. As the owner of a small business, I think this spin is only an indication of Carnahan's trying to get herself out of the bad political situation she put herself in by not voting for permanent repeal of the death tax.

Carnahan should try reading her constituent mail once in a while. Farmers and owners of small businesses, along with the National Federation of Independent Business, worked hard to communicate to members of Congress that they wanted -- and believed it to be essential to their survival -- a permanent repeal of the death tax.

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson listened. Carnahan did not, even though a substantial number of her Democratic cohorts voted for permanent repeal.

The repeal easily passed the House. In the Senate, it obtained a majority vote, but the majority leader, U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, decided it needed to have 60 votes to pass. As a result, the Senate did not repeal the death tax.

Mark Twain once said that no one's life, liberty or property are safe while Congress is in session. Carnahan's vote in favor of the death tax shows that Twain's maxim is as true today as it was in his time.

I hate to think that all the hard work my family and I have put into making our small business successful over the past 21 years could disappear overnight if, after 10 years when the temporary repeal of the death tax ends, we go right back to a punitive tax on money we have already paid taxes on. It would probably be the death of our business, which would not only affect members of our family, but also the 25 to 30 people we employ and their families.

Legislators like Carnahan are more and more making our country into one that punishes rather than rewards success. It is essential that these types of elected officials be voted out of office so this great country of ours can continue to be what our Founding Fathers intended it to be.

Rhoda Reeves of Cape Girardeau is the president of Horizon Screen Printing and Promotional Products.