On June 18th, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8, the “Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2003,” which would make permanent the repeal of the estate tax, currently scheduled to take place in 2010 (thus the proposed law would take effect only in 2011 and beyond). The bill passed the House by a vote of 264-163, primarily with Republican backing, and with 41 Democrats and four Republicans breaking rank with their colleagues. (Vote Results)

The story is confusing. How did it end up that some Democrats voted against the House bill extending the refundable child tax credits to the 6.5 million low-income families who got left out of the latest tax break for the wealthy?

According to the results of a joint NPR-Kaiser Family Foundation-Kennedy School of Government poll released last month -- and confirmed by almost every other poll on Americans' attitudes toward tax cuts - we are all in favor of tax breaks, until we understand what we have to give up in return.

For the second time, in as many years, the President and his tax-slashing allies in Congress have passed a budget that calls for massive tax cuts. Though the recent precedent-setting effort of congressional Republicans last week to pass a budget resolution by agreeing to different tax cut packages leaves much uncertainty about just how large a tax cut the country will be saddled with, a large tax giveaway seems assured. Within the next several weeks, we will learn whether this round of tax cuts will be limited to the Senate's $350 billion or be as high as the House's $550 billion, but this is just the beginning: the budget resolution actually provides for a total of $1.3 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years. Whatever is decided, the tax cuts will be far more than the country can afford. As a result, most of us, and future generations, will be stuck footing the bill for a huge expenditure that will do little, if anything, to stimulate the economy, lower the unemployment rate, close the ever-widening gaps in state budgets, meet the educational needs of our children, or address the shortfall in Social Security or pay for a prescription drug plan for our seniors.