$14.8 billion could be used for many things. For one, it’s double what Obama invested in high speed rail last year through the stimulus bill.

$14.8 billion could also purchase 3500 windmills large enough to power 1.75 million homes. The plus side to this investment is that the power generated from this renewable electricity source would pay back this initial investment in just two years.

Nice investments if you had the money. Unfortunately our government has $14.8 billion less than it would have collected so far just this year due to the continuation of Bush’s inheritance tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.  

A very good book to read is called Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos. It is about the inability of a person to make sense of numbers that rule their lives. Because a large portion of the world’s people have a passing understanding of numbers to begin with, it makes it quite easy for conservatives to convince 95% of the people in this country that somehow their interests were threatened by increasing taxes on the richest 5%.

Because people hear the word billions with only a vaguely different tone than millions, it’s difficult to demonstrate just how much money this is. And the fact that the Oprahs, Gateses, and Steinbrenners of the world with substantially more assets to spare aren’t taxed more progressively is by its very nature – the death knell of democracy in a capitalist state.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, along Senator Tom Harkin and Walt Disney’s heir Abigail Disney, are calling for the reinstatement of the inheritance tax to pre-Bush Administration levels. Read a note from Trumka’s Facebook page referencing this call and the reasons why:

Reprinted from a Facebook note by Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO Trumka: Boost Fairness and Revenue with Estate Tax Reinstatement

Posted Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:58pm

“New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and hundreds of other multimillionaires (and some billionaires, like Steinbrenner) who have passed away this year disproved the old adage, 'the only two things certain in life are death and taxes.'

They couldn’t dodge death, but their estates have dodged taxes—some $14.8 billion so far this year, according to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). The federal estate tax that in the past applied to multimillion-dollar fortunes fully expired at the end of 2009, after President George W. Bush’s 2001 $1.35 trillion tax cut package for the wealthy exempted larger and larger estates from the levy each year.

Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, philanthropist and Walt Disney heir Abigail Disney and others called for a reinstatement of the tax.

During a telephone press conference sponsored today by United for a Fair Economy (UFE), Trumka said:

'Today, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the suspension of the estate tax and other policies favoring the super-rich are key contributors to our nation’s budget deficits.

Our nation desperately needs revenue to invest in job growth, education, health and infrastructure.
Rubin said the revenue generated by an estate tax could be used for public investments that would create “a rapid spend out” to boost job creation.

It’s time to restore the estate tax and restore it now. It’s a progressive tax and can supply revenue without any supply side effects.'

The AFL-CIO, UFE and others on the call said the estate tax should be restored at its 2009 levels or stronger. In 2009, the estate tax exempted the first $3.5 million and applied a 45 percent rate thereafter. Trumka said the AFL-CIO has endorsed two current bills. The first, from Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), includes a $2 million exemption and rates of 45 percent to 55 percent. That would raise about $31 billion more over 10 years than the 2009 levels.

Legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) and Harkin has a $3.5 million exemption and rates of 45 percent to 65 percent and would produce about $62 billion more over the next 10 years than the 2009 levels.

Says Harkin: 'Across this country, schools are firing teachers, first responders are underfunded and hard-working Americans are being denied basic services, all while our deficit reaches record highs. And yet, billion-dollar fortunes are exempt from paying their fair shar
e of estate taxes. There is something wrong with this picture.'

A proposal from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) would boost the 2009 exemption and lower the rate at a cost, Trumka said, of $544 billion over 10 years. He asked, 'Does the estate tax really need to be further reduced?'

Many Republicans have long called for complete abolishment of the estate tax, and Sen.Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced an amendment to a small business bill to permanently repeal the tax.

Said Trumka: It is ludicrous that some in Congress are proposing to end the estate tax at the same time they oppose action to create jobs.