Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Eric Alterman | Estate Tax Repeal

The obscenely rich are about to get their wet dream realized. Under cover of gay marriage/flag burning crises our bought and paid for, Republican dominated congress is about to turn our government into a Marie Antoinette style oligarchy.
This from Eric Alterman
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Now take a look at what I learned from The Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities,
here.

"Estate tax repeal will likely cost $1 trillion in the first decade alone, and compare that amount to other priorities. For example, in light of the controversy this week over cuts in homeland security funding for a number of communities, it is worth noting that the annual revenue loss from repealing the estate tax is roughly the same as total federal spending on homeland security nationwide.
The number of estates subject to tax is small and shrinking rapidly under current law — from more than 50,000 in 2000 to fewer than 13,000 in 2006 to about 7,000 in 2009.
Phony “compromise” proposals are being pushed by some who favor repeal to attract moderate Republicans and Democrats. The leading such “compromises” proposed by Senator Kyl or Senator Baucus would cost almost as much as full repeal, according to the Tax Policy Center, though the former is a bit worse than the latter.
If the tax is frozen at its 2009 level instead of repealed, only the wealthiest three out of every 1,000 estates would owe any tax at all.
If Congress were to opt for the Kyl or Baucus proposals instead of freezing the tax at its 2009 level, all of the additional tax-cut benefits would go to the wealthiest 0.3 percent of estates (those worth more than $7 million for a couple).
All of this, meanwhile, will further separate the wealthy from the rest of us, and hasten the creation of class-driven/anti-opportunity society where democracy has become all but impossible to practice. I keep saying this over and over, these people are purposely destroying everything of value in this country; and the media are just watching.
For more, go
here."

By the way the only thing I'd disagree with this comment,
"..these people are purposely destroying everything of value in this country; and the media are just watching."
I'm convinced that the "media" aren't just "watching" but the vast majority, and especially the national news creatures, are active participants in the destruction. That includes such faux liberals as NPR, etc.

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