Priorites: Repealing The Estate Tax?
Yesterday, the U.S. House voted to make the repeal of the estate tax permanent. The Washington Post notes how unusual such a move is in American history:
In
1992, when heirs to the Mars Inc. fortune joined a few other wealthy
families to hire the law firm Patton Boggs LLP to lobby for estate tax
repeal, the joke on K Street was that few Washington sightseers had
paid so much for a fruitless tour of the Capitol.
Today,
the House is expected to vote to permanently repeal the estate tax,
moving the Mars candy, Gallo wine and Campbell soup fortunes one step
closer to a goal that once seemed quixotic at best: ending all taxation
on inheritances.
…Last month, Graetz and Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro published
“Death By A Thousand Cuts,” chronicling the estate tax repeal movement
as “a mystery about politics and persuasion.”
“For almost a century, the estate tax affected only the richest 1 or 2
percent of citizens, encouraged charity, and placed no burden on the
vast majority of Americans,” they wrote. “A law that constituted the
blandest kind of common sense for most of the twentieth century was
transformed, in the space of little more than a decade, into the
supposed enemy of hardworking citizens all over this country.”
The
reformulation of estate tax policy – a tax that is levied only on the
wealthiest of Americans – has become an acceptable “grassroots” issue.
As Kevin Drum points out – we need to keep in mind that the only thing being taxed are estates of robber baron size, and the only people
being taxed are children of robber barons. (This isn't a family
farmer issue – this is an issue of making sure that the Paris Hilton's
of the world don't have to worry about paying taxes on their
extraordinary inheritance.)
Of course, anytime taxes are cut, there is a cost to be paid in general revenues. (Approximately $1 Trillion per decade – in real dollars – according to the CPBB.)
A question we should all ask of any legislator who supported this bill:
Why is it important to protect the inheritance of people who never earn a wage at the same time it is unimportant
to insure the ability of the Federal Government to repay on the promise
made to workers through the Social Security Administration? (Kevin Drum also stated it this way:
“So a few thousand indolent kids like Paris Hilton get to pay for their
Roman bacchanalias tax free while a couple hundred million ordinary
working folks get the shaft. That's the party of moral values for you.”) Reward weath – punish work. Another example of real GOP priorites on display.
Blog For Iowa 
Representative Boswell voted for the end of the Estate Tax, and today he voted for the new bankruptcy law, another gift to big business and the wealthy at the expense of Iowa's middle class, this time to the credit card industry. Sure, these pro-business/anti middle class laws would have been passed solely by the Republican majority, but now the Republicans will say it was a bi-partisan effort. Is Boswell for us or against us?
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