WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, broke with incoming House Speaker John Boehner and most of his GOP colleagues to oppose a tax package that easily cleared the House late Thursday and signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama.

Jordan described the bill that Boehner helped negotiate with the White House as “flawed,” arguing that the new 35 percent estate tax “will hurt families, farmers and small business owners.”

The measure, which also cleared the Senate this week, will extend for two years a broad range of income and investment tax cuts that would have expired at the end of the month, including those for the richest Americans.

As part of the compromise with the White House, Republicans agreed to allow an heir to inherit as much as $5 million from one person without paying any tax. The heir would pay a 35 percent tax on an individual’s estate larger than $5 million.

Under the 2001 tax law, the estate tax had been gradually reduced until it reached zero this year. But without congressional action, the estate tax was scheduled next month to return to 55 percent for individuals worth more than $1 million.

Only about 4,000 estates across the country will be affected by the new 35 percent rate.

At a news conference Friday, Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., acknowledged that some Republicans “didn’t think that the agreement on the tax bill was a good one. But I have to tell you, from where I stand, our first goal was to stop the big tax hike that was coming on January the first.”

Among other area lawmakers, Republicans Mike Turner of Centerville and Steve Austria of Beavercreek voted for the bill, while Republican Jean Schmidt of Loveland opposed it.