FACT CHECK: Rehberg voted to allow harmful estate tax on Montana

Lobbyist lies again about his own history with estate tax, makes up facts

BILLINGS, Mont. – After being called out for lying about his own history with the estate tax, Lobbyist-turned-congressman Dennis Rehberg is now trying to erase a painful fact: Rehberg voted in 2010 to allow a harmful tax on numerous Montana farms and ranchers.

A fact check of a new false attack ad launched on Rehberg’s behalf is online HERE.

In December of 2010, Montana farmer Jon Tester joined a majority of Republican and Democratic senators in voting to prevent Rehberg’s harmful estate tax. The plan they supported instead shields most Montanans from the Estate Tax. In fact, according to the IRS, only 26 Montanans had to pay the estate tax in 2010.

Rehberg, however, voted against the bipartisan plan to shield most Montanans from the estate tax, opting instead to allow a much more severe estate tax rate to go into effect on January 1, 2011.

If Rehberg got his way, Montana farmers and ranchers would be subject to a harmful estate tax rate of 55 percent on estates valued at more than $1 million.

Just this year, Rep. Rehberg voted against eliminating the federal estate tax. [H Con Res 112, Vote #149, 3/29/2012]

The news magazine High Country News earlier this year revealed that one of Rehberg’s favorite campaign talking points is a lie.

Rehberg often says he was forced to sell his land to pay estate taxes. But according to High Country News, Rehberg’s family started selling his land decades before his great-grandmother, who owned the land, passed away

“Lobbyist Dennis Rehberg just got caught lying again about his own history with the estate tax, so no wonder he’s trying to make up his own facts,” said Montanans for Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy. “The simple truth is that it was Dennis Rehberg in 2010 who voted to allow a harmful and irresponsible estate tax to go into effect, which would have hurt many Montana farms and ranches.”

###