Will Repeal of the estate tax save the 18 richest families $71.6 billion?

[newsBot]

ISSUE: Is a Reduction/Repeal of the Federal Estate/Inheritance/Death Tax good for average Americans or does it just benefit the richest of the rich?

Republicans succeeded in coupling a reduction in the estate tax (a/k/a inheritance tax, a/k/a death tax) to an increase in the minimum wage. The bill is expected to come to a vote in the Senate this Friday. Democrats generally favor an increase in the minimum wage and Republicans generally oppose it. Republicans generally favor a reduction of estate taxes and Democrats generally oppose it. The insertion of the estate tax issue into the minimum wage is what is known as a poison pill.

Read More:

Republicans tie minimum wage to tax cut
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060728/ap_on_go_co/minimum_wage_11

Death Tax And Wage Hike Vote Expected To Be Close On Friday
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20060802/bs_ibd_ibd/200682general

Today, the Republic National Committee sent out a letter via e-mail that contained the following:

Family-owned small businesses are taxed enough. They do not need to be double taxed when the business passes on to the next generation.

This week, the Senate is taking up a bill to end the unfair death tax. Earlier this year, a minority of Democrat senators blocked putting the death tax on the road to extinction. This is the last chance to stand up for economic growth, small businesses, and family farms burdened by the unfair death tax.

Ending the death tax is a matter of basic fairness. No one should be taxed twice and death should not be an excuse for the government to take your money away. Congress passed and the President signed death tax relief, but if nothing is done, the death tax returns at full force in 2010, resulting in a massive tax increase on family-owned small businesses. These same businesses often cannot survive into a second generation because of the death tax.

On April 25, 2006, the non-profit, public interest group Public Citizen released a report that claims that 18 super-wealthy families (collectively worth $185.5 billion) have been conducting a multimillion dollar lobbying effort to repeal the federal estate tax. Repeal of the estate tax would save these 18 families alone $71.6 billion.

The report profiles the families and their businesses, which include the families behind Wal-Mart, Gallo wine, Campbell’s soup, and Mars Inc., maker of M&Ms. Collectively, the list includes the first- and third-largest privately held companies in the United States, the richest family in Alabama and the world’s largest retailer.

These families have sought to keep their activities anonymous by using associations to represent them and by forming a massive coalition of business and trade associations dedicated to pushing for estate tax repeal. The report details the groups they have hidden behind – the trade associations they have used, the lobbyists they have hired, and the anti-estate tax political action committees, 527s and organizations to which they have donated heavily.

In a massive public relations campaign, the families have also misled the country by giving the mistaken impression that the estate tax affects most Americans. In particular, they have used small businesses and family farms as poster children for repeal, saying that the estate tax destroys both of these groups. But just more than one-fourth of one percent (0.25%) of all estates will owe any estate taxes in 2006. And the American Farm Bureau, a member of the anti-estate tax coalition, was unable when asked by The New York Times to cite a single example of a family being forced to sell its farm because of estate tax liability.

Read More:

Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy Expose Stealth Campaign of Super-Wealthy to Repeal Federal Estate Tax
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2182

Spending Millions to Save Billions
The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax
http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf


Do the homework and decide for yourself.

 

[Pete]

Why does this remind me of Sam Kinison's comedy bit on homosexual necrophiliacs? They even screw ya when you are dead.

Tax it when you earn it
Tax it when you spend it
Tax what you buy with it
Tax the interest you earn with it
Tax you when you sell what you bought with it
Tax you when you croak and try to leave it to your kids.

Lets look at the "death tax" rates. First number is the exclusion, the next number is the tax rate on the value above that. Lets say I work until I am 60 and build a nice business, life insurance, some sage investments and my estate is worth $2Million dollars. If I croak in 2006 or 2007 Boy will inheret the whole thing basically tax free because Republicans figure that there is something totally obscene about taxing someone to death, then taxing them when they have the audacity to die thus interrupting the revenue flow to the DNC. Now if the Democrats had their way and the tax were reverted to the 2002 level Boy would get $1M, the other million dollars of my money would be taxed at 55%, FIFTY FIVE yes people I said FIFTY EFFING FIVE percent! Chuck Schumer, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry will be giddy with excitement at the $550,000 they took from my boy.

But Pete, what if that money, the $550,000 is tied up in the business and is required for Boy to operated the business, like trucks, capital equipment, inventory, tools, buildings and such?

Too effing bad, liquidate it, borrow against it and send us the MONEYYYYYYYYYYYY <----Liberal happy dance that they get to redistribute some of those mean, nasty, undeserving, wretched, discusting, blood thirsty rich peoples wealth by hiring some stooge to teach heroin addicts how to weave baskets before they get their methodone or pay for JPC's kid's school lunch.

I contend that only an elitist blood sucking leech or a flaming communist feels the rightousness to reach into a dead mans pocket and take FIFTY FIVE EFFING percent his hard earned money from his survivors. Now the actual tax rate is 25% when you figure the exemption but still, one quarter of what the estate is valued at goes to the government. It only gets worse IF you are lucky enough to be worth more than that. $11M net worth would be $5,500,000 yes folks that is EFFING HALF in taxes!

Year
Exclusion
Amount
Max/Top
tax rate


2002
$1 million
55%


2003
$1 million
49%


2004
$1.5 million
48%


2005
$1.5 million
47%


2006
$2 million
46%


2007
$2 million
45%


2008
$2 million
45%


2009
$3.5 million
45%


2010
repealed
0%


2011
$1 million
55%

 

[Pete]

Oh and I like the "newsbot's" siggy line.

My Job is to post News & Issues for public consumption and conversation.

Ain't that cute. Seems so antiseptic doesn't it? Nice and clean, straight forward, too bad it reads like it came right straight out of Howard Deans talking points bulletin to Leftist Activists.

How about you post unbiased news.

Perhaps you should change the user name to "Deanbot"

 

[Bustem' Down]

Plain and simple, Death Tax should not exsist.


Nice post though Pete.

 

[Pete]

Plain and simple, Death Tax should not exsist.


Nice post though Pete.

Thanks

If people would pay attention to how much money flies out of their pockets there would be a revolt and half those people living on the dole would be hunted down.

Aside from income tax typically 25% of what you earn they tax you 5% again on what you buy.

Look at your phone bill, how many nickels and dimes do they squeeze out of you. Cable bill, fuel oil, electricity, cell phone, property, license plates, hunting license, duck stamps, gasoline, tobacco, tolls it is insane!

TAX TAX TAX TAX then someone has the audacity to act like the world is going to come to an end and Republicans are hucksters because they decided that when you die it is shamefull to loot your estate.

 

[oldman]

JPC won't comment on this. To him this is how all the kids needs are already met.

 

[Bustem' Down]

Thanks

If people would pay attention to how much money flies out of their pockets there would be a revolt and half those people living on the dole would be hunted down.

Aside from income tax typically 25% of what you earn they tax you 5% again on what you buy.

Look at your phone bill, how many nickels and dimes do they squeeze out of you. Cable bill, fuel oil, electricity, cell phone, property, license plates, hunting license, duck stamps, gasoline, tobacco, tolls it is insane!

TAX TAX TAX TAX then someone has the audacity to act like the world is going to come to an end and Republicans are hucksters because they decided that when you die it is shamefull to loot your estate.

Oh I know, when I re-enlisted in 2001 I got a $45,000 bonus. I only saw 75% of that. That's a damn lot of money.

 

[Pete]

Oh I know, when I re-enlisted in 2001 I got a $45,000 bonus. I only saw 75% of that. That's a damn lot of money.

And they didn't even give you a reach around did they?

I bet they taxed the whole thing at your max tax rate, gave you half and over the next few years you will get installments that OBTW get taxed again

 

[kom526]

Up a little late for a work night eh Pete? I know Bust'em is working hard and waiting for 2Hot to show herself.

I'm going to have to agree with Pete on this one, the death tax is a load of BS. Why penalize the people who have succeeded at acheiving the "American Dream"?

 

[Bustem' Down]

And they didn't even give you a reach around did they?

I bet they taxed the whole thing at your max tax rate, gave you half and over the next few years you will get installments that OBTW get taxed again

You know, I didn't think about it, but I think that's exactly what happened.

 

[Bustem' Down]

Up a little late for a work night eh Pete? I know Bust'em is working hard and waiting for 2Hot to show herself.

I'm going to have to agree with Pete on this one, the death tax is a load of BS. Why penalize the people who have succeeded at acheiving the "American Dream"?

I wish she'd show up again. I'm bored.

 

[Pete]

Up a little late for a work night eh Pete? I know Bust'em is working hard and waiting for 2Hot to show herself.

I'm going to have to agree with Pete on this one, the death tax is a load of BS. Why penalize the people who have succeeded at acheiving the "American Dream"?

Yea, just winding down.


This is the Mantra of the left. They do everything in their power to vilify anyone who succeeds as filthy rich scum bags. I think progressive tax rates suck but understand them and can stomach them but GD WTF do they always beat down the people who make America what it is?

Who benefits America and Americans more, Sam Walton's heirs or Saneequa and her 7 illegitimate children? Sam Walton's heirs are evil money grubbing a-holes who don't want to pay 55% of their dads estate in more taxes and they blast them like they are Nazi's. They already pay more in taxes than half the country combined. But when is the last time you heard a Democrat go to the NAACP and tell them they need to get together as a black community and stop pumping out illegitimate kids and get off welfare, or stop the drug gangster behavior that has 4 out of 10 black men in prison? NEVER! They can bad mouth wealthy people who worked for their money all day long and half the night but they will NEVER utter a word condemning moral erosion and lack of personal responsibility of those who are a boil on the ass of America.

 

[vraiblonde]

Ain't that cute. Seems so antiseptic doesn't it? Nice and clean, straight forward, too bad it reads like it came right straight out of Howard Deans talking points bulletin to Leftist Activists.

Actually, it may have

This is what "NewsBot" does - posts the more opinion-oriented pieces we receive, then opens it for discussion. MUCH better, in my opinion, than posting it as headline news.

 

[Pete]

Actually, it may have

This is what "NewsBot" does - posts the more opinion-oriented pieces we receive, then opens it for discussion. MUCH better, in my opinion, than posting it as headline news.

eanbot:

 

[MMDad]

MUCH better, in my opinion, than posting it as headline news.

So the "overthrow the Republicans" story disguised as a voter registration story wasn't too opinion orientd?

 

[Pete]

So the "overthrow the Republicans" story disguised as a voter registration story wasn't too opinion orientd?

"Overthrow the Republicans" isn't news It is what hand wringing leftists moan in their sleep.

 

[willie]

Actually, it may have

This is what "NewsBot" does - posts the more opinion-oriented pieces we receive, then opens it for discussion. MUCH better, in my opinion, than posting it as headline news.

Is NewsBot the Editor?

 

[vraiblonde]

Is NewsBot the Editor?

Yes.

 

[Sticky is Good]

Only thing I disagree with is what do minimum wage and inheritance tax have to do with each other. Why can't both be voted on their own merits?

 

[willie]

Yes.

How in the world did you get mixed up with such a left wing wacko? Does he make you hang a picture of Steny in each room?
In all seriousness, that guy is not capable of writing an unbiased sentence. Look at Al Franken's great success.