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Monday, June 05, 2006
No Excuse for Abolishing the Estate Tax
The Washington Post is running opposing op-eds today on the estate tax, which will most likely be brought to the floor this Thursday. The op-eds, written by Sebastian Mallaby and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) are worth a read.
Mallaby's article, "Reward for the Hereditary Elite..., is especially on target, pointing out how ludicrous it is for Congress to even be considering cutting this revenue stream when government expenditures are "projected to rise by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, a growth equivalent to the doubling of today's Medicare program."
Sessions' article, "...Or Unfair Burden on Families?" is, of course, in favor of estate tax repeal. He runs through the same tired arguments of the tax hurting small businesses and being an unfair burden on families. In reality this tax -- and a progressive tax code in general -- helps families by prioritizing investment in the common good, a healthy economy, and equality of opportunity over rewarding conglomerated wealth, which is exactly what estate tax repeal would do. Remember that Sessions too is the same Senator who went hunting for bodies after hurricane Katrina -- that is the bodies of wealthy folks who passed away in the disaster. He wanted to make an example of how the estate tax had negatively impacted the heirs of these very wealthy people. It was one of the most shameful political acts to come out of the disaster.
I'll echo Mallaby's sentiments that "repealing the estate tax is like erecting protectionist barriers around the hereditary elite." There is absolutely no excuse for Congress to be spending one minute discussing the abolition of the estate tax. This is a tax, as the Tax Policy Center points out, that will affect an estimated 12,600 estates this year, the majority of which will have absolutely no problem paying it. Last year's Census Bureau data indicated that there are 37 million poor people in the United States. If Congressional leaders had a shred of dignity they would be voting on addressing that this week as opposed to addressing an issue which affects the wealthiest sliver of our population.
Posted by Becky Lewis
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