Sticking It to the Unemployed

Over a million families are hanging on by thread, and all Sen. Jon Kyl (R-$$) wants to do is cut taxes for heirs of multimillion dollar estates. In fact, he wants to give scions of the rich tax cuts so badly that he's blocking health insurance assistance and a badly needed Unemployment Insurance extension from getting through the Senate.

Unbelievable.

Senate Democrats have found Republican support elusive for a bill that would combine year-long extensions of expired tax provisions with similar continuations of expanded unemployment coverage and health insurance subsidies for jobless workers.

[...]

Still, Minority Whip Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., said Republicans will block consideration of the new bill unless they get “a path forward fairly soon” on the estate tax.

Kyl has, in the past, proposed estate tax amendments that would give over $340 billion in tax cuts to heirs of multi-million dollar estates, and he would likely offer something similar given the oppurtunity.

Judy Conti of the National Employment Law Project (NELP) tells us what's a stake:

"The official statement coming out of Kyl's office is that the are holding up unemployment insurance to use as leverage for the estate tax," Conti told HuffPot. "They are jeopardizing the only lifeline that 1.2 million workers and their families have so that dead multimillionaires won't have to pay taxes."

According to NELP's analysis, 1.2 million people will prematurely lose unemployment benefits next month unless Congress acts.

United for a Fair Economy's Lee Farris calls this sort of hostage taking an "outrage":

'Why are Senators Kyl and Grassley more worried about enriching the heirs of multimillionaires than about helping Americans hit hardest by the recession?' asks Lee Farris, Estate Tax Policy Coordinator at United for a Fair Economy (UFE). 'It is an outrage that they are willing to hold struggling Americans hostage in their efforts to secure another huge tax cut for the wealthy Wall Street crowd that crashed our economy in the first place!'

Call Jon Kyl's office at (202) 224-4521, (602) 840-1891, or (520) 575-8633 and politely state your abhorrence to this move. You can e-mail his office using this form.

(Craig Jennings 02/25/10)

Comments

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/26/10

Craig, I am sorry that your

Craig, I am sorry that your Marxist views have any place on the airwaves. Jon Kyl and many other people in this country need to stand up and prevent the Progressives from taxing the American People to death - rich or poor. Your battle cry is always the same - down with the rich, down with individual efforts in private business. Let's face it - your a communist and your desire to spread the wealth to those that did nothing to make that wealth is a vacuous argument. You think that Kyl and Grassely have anything really to do with your pitiful cries to make the estate tax more oppressive ? No, sorry friends. Kyl and Grassely and mnay others are trying to prevent the government from being the monolith that it seeks to be controlling everything for the sake of self gratifying power. You, my friend are a Marxist-Leninist. You want more taxes, you want more dominence over the people through an empowered government. You are the disease....not the cure.

by Craig Jennings on 03/01/10

First: -5 for spelling and

First: -5 for spelling and grammar mistakes ("your" should be "you're," and it's "Grassley")

Second: You must really hate that Marxist/Marxist-Leninist/communist Ronald Reagan, who fought tirelessly to tax "the American People to death - rich or poor." He called for an estate tax exemption of $600,000 ($1.1 million in 2010 dollars) with a top marginal rate of 55%

Third: Am I a Marxist, a Maxist-Leninst, or a communist? There are differences. I just want to know if you object to the abolition of private property, the economic/social philosophy that views historical events as class struggles, or Vladimir Lenin's instantiation of Marx's dictatorship of the proletariat.

by Anonymous (not verified) on 03/01/10

That's not fair! Stop

That's not fair! Stop trying to confuse me with facts!

by Corey (not verified) on 02/25/10

Craig, you are right on. For

Craig, you are right on. For the life of me I cannot figure what line of thinking these people are using. It's totally insane to put a tax break to the rich before the American masses that have been hit the hardest by the current recession. This has nothing to do with hating people who have worked hard to make millions, more power to them that is one of the things that makes America great. What also puzzles me is the use of absolutes by people like the person commenting above. They don't have to give 'everything' up. And yes they do owe the government just like you and I owe the government. During times of prosperity we have been allowed to utilize this great country to prosper and engage in the pursuit of happiness. It is not too much to ask that we put back into the country and the system from which we have been allowed to take, earn, and prosper. Greed and the beleif that we can take and take, and never give any back is disgusting.The line of thinking that, "I have money you don't what do I care", is putrid. Don't dare call yourself a Christian, as Christian means, 'Christ-Like'. What Would Jesus Do? Well, the New Testament had him worrying about the poor more than a tax on the rich. "Render Caesar that which is Caesar's".

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/25/10

Craig you are right to a

Craig you are right to a point why should those who have worked be taxed on there estates after they die. The real issue here I feel is the method Senator Kyl is using to push for support of the estate tax. You do understand unemployment is a from of insurance, ring a bell as to bailouts. Working Americans have paid into it with there hard work just as much as those with nice estates have and now they really need it to work for them.

by Home Stretch (not verified) on 02/25/10

SENATOR KYL IS VILE!

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/25/10

Craig, I agree, YOU are a

Craig, I agree, YOU are a moron!!!

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/26/10

Yeah...because, you know, ad

Yeah...because, you know, ad hominem attacks really foster a constructive and mature dialogue. I would hope that people who visit a site like this could act like responsible adults instead of engaging in middle-school-like name-calling. Then again, we have grown-ups on cable TV "news" channels calling people "pinheads," so maybe my expectations are way too high...

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/25/10

A well thought out

A well thought out response. No one is against the working man being able to maintain their estates. However, to put people in jeopardy of not being able to pay rent or for food to get through a tax break that helps 1% of all Americans is a bit self serving. Address this tax break at another time if you really think it is important.

by Anonymous (not verified) on 02/25/10

What kind of moron are you?

What kind of moron are you? Why do you hate people who work hard to make money over their lives and then want to preserve it for the next generation? They owe the gov't nothing - they've paid taxes their entire lives to the gov't - why should they have to give everything up just for dying?