Mad blogs and Englishwomen
Avedon has the links today. First is Lorraine's open letter to the party power brokers, Dear Dems. Avedon is right in thinking every single progressive Dem should be printing this out and sending it to their legislators. She also reminded me to check Mad Kane who has posted some short podcast interviews with bloggers you'll recognize. I finally figured out how to access these myself and was able at last to listen to Mad's dulcet tones.
In another post, Avedon links to Digby for an an explanation on how welfare became a code word for lazy black folks. Avedon adds her own thoughts, well worth reading in full, but here's the money quote.
In another post, Avedon links to Digby for an an explanation on how welfare became a code word for lazy black folks. Avedon adds her own thoughts, well worth reading in full, but here's the money quote.
Digby is right that we need to remember how much of a role racism has played in keeping all of us from having the same sensible programs that other countries have long ago learned are necessary to a stable and prosperous society. And we need not to forget that. But we also need to remind people that taking care of our people isn't about taking care of 'just' blacks - it's about taking care of blacks too, because it's about everyone.How true. I've been posting on the subject of poverty myself at the Detroit News and also on the repeal of the estate tax a/k/a welfare for the rich. Surprising hate mail on those. How do people get fooled into believing the repeal is some kind of boon for the middle class?
posted by Libby Spencer at 6:02 PM
3 Comments:
The estate tax we're talking about is not paid by the middle class, it's paid by the very rich. And it's not paid by the person who earned the money, it's paid by people who didn't. You have to pay tax on money you get - that's always been true. Why is getting someone else's money when they die a special case?
(BTW, I am not, and never have been, and never will be, English. I'm an all-American girl. I think I have a bio over at The Sideshow Annex someplace.)
I know you're not English Avedon but the muse deserted me yesterday so I took a little poetic license and stretched the point. I mean you do live in England after all. In any event I couldn't think of another title.
Thanks for the comment on the tax. That's pretty much my take on it as well, although I would add that Gates and Buffet do not necessarily contribute generously to the public sector. In fact I suspect they have a legion of accountants to help them contribute as little as possible to the tax base and can thus look like heros when they embrace some pet cause and donate a billion or so. In terms of their net worth, it's still not that much.
Besides what's so hard about figuring their estate plans to include their fair share of the public debt? If they don't pay now, when Bush's credit bills come due, it will be the middle class who bears the burden. That would be your kids and grandkids Exile. Meanwhile the top tier who benefited from this irresponsible spending will still be slipping through the loopholes they bought with lobbyists and mega-donations to the politicians.
The American dream ain't what it used to be. When your granddad was chasing it, the mega-corps didn't have the power they have now. They stacked the deck against the little guy breaking through and the policies they support are designed to keep the poor down, not help them escape poverty.
Government spending is run amok. You can't finance all the wars and welfare for the rich tax cuts, on credit forever. And now there's reconstruction projects going to those companies that have already stuffed their pockets with our tax dollars instead of going to middle class businessmen. So if the billionaires don't pay on their assets, who is going to pay?
Here are a few figures to clarify the effect the estate tax has on average, middle-class Americans:
The first $3 million of a couple's estate ($1.5 million for an individual) is exempt from the tax, and the current tax rate is 47 percent.
By 2009, the exemption rises to $3.5 million for an individual and $7 million for a couple, but the tax rate drops to 45 percent.
According to the Tax Policy Center, "less than 1 percent of estates pay any tax—with the vast majority of the population owing nothing. In 2004, this translated into an estimated 18,800 estates. Under current law, this number will decline even further as the estate tax exemption rises. By 2009 (when the law will allow a couple to pass $7 million and an individual to pass $3.5 million of any estate to their heirs tax free), less than 0.3 percent of estates will owe any tax."
As far as the effect on small businesses goes, the Small Business Council of America believes repealing the tax will actually hurt businesses because "the president’s proposal would eliminate the ”stepped-up basis” rule, under which someone who inherits a small business does not owe capital gains taxes on the increase in the business’ value while the decedent owned it." The Council claims 40,000 estates currently take advantage of this “stepped-up basis” rule each year.
What about farms? The National Farmers Union believes that the cost of repealing the estate tax would jeopardize Congress' ability to adequately fund farm, nutrition, conservation and disaster programs. This is of concern to farmers because they have to contend with falling commodity prices and sky-rocketing energy costs. Meanwhile, the CBO estimates only 65 family farms would be subject to the tax by 2009 with exemption of $3.5 million ($7 million per couple).
The CBO also said charities will suffer if the tax is repealed since there will be no motivation to protect estates from taxation. They estimate that charities received between $13 and $25 billion in 2000 because of the estate tax. A large chunk of that money gets used to help the needy and without those contributions people will suffer even more.
The CBO also estimates repealing the estate tax will increase our deficit by nearly $400 billion over 10 years. We're already in debt up to our eyeballs and eliminating this source of revenue is financial suicide.
Repealing the estate tax does not make sense. It will increase the size of our deficit, reduce tax revenue and charitable giving, and not really protect small businesses or farms. It will not protect the estates of most Americans either since the exemption levels are sufficient to protect most of us. Repealing the tax will only benefit the top 1% of Americans who derive most of their income from investments anyway and not their labor.
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