Who's afraid of estate tax repeal?
This issue is one that really splits my conservative friends and I, and completely mystifies me. I'll try to be brief, but here's my take. Given that A) my right-wing friends are more religious than my progressive friends, and given that B) they accept the validity of individual responsibility to the continuity of the state under which they prospered, I'm always mystified at their resistance to a progressive tax code.
The most common objection seems to be that of the inherent unfairness of 'double taxation.' That was the line Bush used to sell the Cato Institute/radical libertarian line that all taxation is illegal theft, and make it sound like an admirable American goal. Of course, when you think about it we all face double taxation. There are payroll taxes and income taxes. Then there's the sales tax, and the property tax. So you could argue with just as much validity that every American facing triple-taxation, if not quintuple-taxation. But somehow the capital gains tax and estate tax are the only ones worth opposing. It's just a coincidence, I suppose, that that it has the practical effect of shifting the tax burden to the poor.
This is a sort of sourcing hat trick. I came across it at Liberal Patriot, who acknowledges that he found it on Eschaton, and that it comes from a WaPo story. Here's an excerpt from the original story:
A little-known Southern California estate planner named Patricia Soldano launched her repeal effort with the backing of about 50 wealthy clients, with the Gallo and Mars families leading the way. Other contributors included the heirs of the Campbell soup and Krystal hamburger fortunes. Frank Blethen, whose family controls the Seattle Times Co., was also pivotal.
The effort caught fire when small-business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business and agriculture groups led by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association joined in.
By then, Soldano's Policy and Taxation Group was spending more than $250,000 a year on lobbying. A parade of small-business owners and family farmers appealed to their congressmen, worried that they could not pass on their enterprises to their children, even though most of them would not be affected by the tax.
(The title link is to the original WaPo story.)
The most common objection seems to be that of the inherent unfairness of 'double taxation.' That was the line Bush used to sell the Cato Institute/radical libertarian line that all taxation is illegal theft, and make it sound like an admirable American goal. Of course, when you think about it we all face double taxation. There are payroll taxes and income taxes. Then there's the sales tax, and the property tax. So you could argue with just as much validity that every American facing triple-taxation, if not quintuple-taxation. But somehow the capital gains tax and estate tax are the only ones worth opposing. It's just a coincidence, I suppose, that that it has the practical effect of shifting the tax burden to the poor.
This is a sort of sourcing hat trick. I came across it at Liberal Patriot, who acknowledges that he found it on Eschaton, and that it comes from a WaPo story. Here's an excerpt from the original story:
A little-known Southern California estate planner named Patricia Soldano launched her repeal effort with the backing of about 50 wealthy clients, with the Gallo and Mars families leading the way. Other contributors included the heirs of the Campbell soup and Krystal hamburger fortunes. Frank Blethen, whose family controls the Seattle Times Co., was also pivotal.
The effort caught fire when small-business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business and agriculture groups led by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association joined in.
By then, Soldano's Policy and Taxation Group was spending more than $250,000 a year on lobbying. A parade of small-business owners and family farmers appealed to their congressmen, worried that they could not pass on their enterprises to their children, even though most of them would not be affected by the tax.
(The title link is to the original WaPo story.)
posted by Matt Sandwich | 1:21 AM
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