Last night NPR interviewed Mitch McConnel. He said the Republicans were thinking about attaching an estate tax provision to the minimum wage bill. As usual, McConnell lied about estate taxes. These are not slight hedgings of fact; they are outright LIES. As in NOT TRUE, as in LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE kind of lies. So, let's go about debunking the Republicans lies about estate taxes AGAIN. I would like the press to do this, but that would require effort, research and thinking on their part. In other words, it won't happen.
First, there is a credit a taxpayer can apply against any estate taxes. For 2002-2003 this amount was $1 million, for 2004-2005 this amount was $1.5 million and for 2006-2008 this number was $2 million. Even at the one million level, a large number of small businesses would be exempt from the estate tax - simply put, they're just not that valuable.
Secondly, let's see who is actually affected by this tax. According to the Tax Policy Center, [1] the top quintile of income earners pay 85% of the current tax. By 2009, that number will increase to 99.8%. [2] In other words - the richest pay this tax. It has squat to do with the middle class.
Third, the Republicans are spreading the LIE that the estate tax hurts family farmers. No one -- AND I MEAN NO ONE -- has mentioned THE ESTATE CODE ALREADY HAS A PROVISION THAT PROTECTS SMALL FARMERS. It's 26 USC 2032A. As a practioner, I can tell you this is a very poorly worded section of the code, but nonetheless it already exists. In other words (please read this carefully) THE ESTATE TAX CODE ALREADY PROTECTS SMALL FARMERS.
So - this is a rich man's tax. Most small businesses are already exempt from the tax because they are too small. And family farms are already protected in the code.
In other words -- ALL OF THE REPUBLICANS TALKING POINTS ARE CRAP, LIES, BULLSHIT, COMPLETE FABRICATIONS AND OUTRIGHT FALSEHOODS.
WILL SOMEBODY IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLEASE CALL THEM ON IT? PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE?
Finally, there is this article [3] from the Christian Science Monitor which states that 18 ultra-rich families are responsible for the lobbying effort to repeal the estate tax.
Last week, proponents of keeping the tax, seeing at stake $1 trillion in revenues over 10 years, held a press conference in Washington, D.C., to reveal a "multimillion-dollar lobbying effort" to repeal the tax. This effort, they said, is led by 18 "superwealthy families" with a total net worth of $185 billion. Eliminating the estate tax would save their heirs $71.6 billion on their huge estates.
Calling the lobbying effort "one of the biggest con jobs in recent history," Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, charged the families with relying on "deception to bamboozle the public and Congress, not only about who must pay the estate tax, but about how repealing it will affect the country." She accused them of masterminding "a fraud" on the public by selling repeal on the basis that the "death tax" will harm small business and small farms, and it does not.
So -- the richest families are lobbying for repeal. The last 6 years have been all about rich people. It's time for the other 90% of Americans to receive the benefit of their government.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
