The U.S. Senate went two different ways on the estate tax, which has been a contentious issue for years — a tax congressional Republicans have villified as the “death tax”.

Senators voted 51-48 to include a provision in the fiscal 2010 budget that called for exempting estates at $5 million for individuals and limiting the tax to 35 percent — though the measure is non-binding and could be stripped out when the legislation is melded with a separate budget that passed the House of Representatives.

The amendment provoked a moment of drama in an otherwise long day of voting in the Senate where Democratic leaders scrambled to find the votes to kill the amendment, which scores some political points to those who have rallied against the estate tax for years.

The amendment was backed by several Democrats, including a couple senators facing tough re-election bids next year, Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Patty Murray of Washington.

The New York Times was so incensed by the amendment it wrote the following in its lead editorial on Thursday:

“The proverbial millionaires next door — the plumbers, contractors and accountants who amass substantial wealth through hard work and modest living — are not the intended beneficiaries of the proposed cut. The Obama budget already takes care of them, because it retains today’s law, which imposes the estate tax only on couples with property worth more than $7 million, or individuals with property worth more than $3.5 million. That means 99.8 percent of estates will never — ever — pay a penny of estate tax.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that “No one should have to be taxed on their assets twice, and no one should have to visit the taxman and the undertaker on the same day. But if we can’t repeal this tax, then we should at least lower it at a time when Americans are already burdened by shrinking retirement savings.”

President Barack Obama had proposed in his budget plan keeping the estate tax exemption at its current level of $3.5 million and tax the rest at 45 percent.

But minutes later the Senate adopted a second amendment that would require a 60-vote threshold to change the estate tax rate and exemption beyond the current levels unless commensurate tax relief was offered those who earn less than $100,000 annually.

Since Republicans now have only 42 seats in the Senate, and 10 Democrats supported the earlier amendment, reaching 60 votes likely would be tough.

In any event, since the amendments are part of the non-binding budget resolution, the votes are really just symbolic.

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GREEN, Ohio - John McCain wants Americans to get rich.

That was the message from the Republican presidential hopeful Wednesday as he focused again on the differences in his tax proposals and those of Democratic rival Barack Obama.

The Arizona senator has hammered Obama in recent days for a philosophy of spreading Americans’ wealth around, articulated by the Illinois senator in a now famous exchange with an Ohio man dubbed Joe the Plumber.

McCain promised at an outdoor rally with an enthusiatic crowd he and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, would not make people or businesses send more money to the federal government.

“Sarah Palin and I will not raise your taxes, my friends,” he said. “We want you to get wealthy.”

Palin weighed in on the theme, too, calling Obama “Barack-the-wealth-spreader” and warning the crowd: “You have to really listen to our opponent’s words because he’s hiding his real agenda of redestributing your hard-earned money.”

The Obama camp was unmoved. At a press conference, the Illinois senator brushed off the charges as just another attack strategy by his rivals. “They have been trying to throw whatever they can up against the wall to see what sticks, and this is their latest version,” Obama said.

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Photo credit: Carlos Barria (McCain, with wife Cindy, reacts to supporters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania