John Block Reports from Washington

It seems like once a week the liberal Washington Post paper editorializes, arguing for the Congress to roll back the tax relief that the Congress passed last year. The liberals that want to spend your money just keep whining. The center piece of that tax relief is the elimination of the death taxes. It is the cruelest tax that we Impose.

Imagine this: Farmer Brown suddenly arrives in the Promised Land. He is sitting on a cloud watching the greedy government prepare to confiscate the farming business that he spent a lifetime building. He is calling out to Uncle Sam, "Hey, Uncle Sam, I didn't plan to die. At least not yet. My farm was doing okay. No, I didn't have a million dollars set aside to pay you. I didn't have a million dollars in my life insurance either. That's very costly. I was busy farming and didn't hire lawyers and accountants to put together a complicated estate plan. Uncle Same, You don't understand. I already paid the taxes when I earned the money. Everything I have is invested in land, buildings, machinery and livestock. If I sell that to pay you, my son won't be able to farm."

Unfortunately in too many cases that's the way it is. We have our chance now to make the tax relief passed last year permanent. Speaker Denny Hastert is pushing permanent legislation in the House. The question is: Will Senator Daschle kill the bill in the Senate?

Stay tuned. We have a lot at stake.