Wow. That has to be one of the craziest articles I have ever read. It should come with a disclaimer: Not appropriate for anyone with common sense! This article makes Ann Coulter look fair and balanced. Lets get real here. How would this author propose paying for Bush's 150 billion dollar war? If not through the estate tax, where? Maybe he would like to cut the size of the military, or the department of homeland security? Perhaps he would like to let the rich enjoy a tax break by asking our schools to go without federal funding or asking the states to fund their own roads, dams, and other major projects. Katrina victims? Fend for yourselves. While we're at it, why don't we just get rid of the federal government all together and let the rich run the country. Oh wait, they already do.
Boo hoo the poor multi-millionaires. They have such hard lives. I can't believe they have to pay more in taxes then all their servants and maids and limo drivers do?
In all seriousness, this article illustrates the fundamental problem with the Republican party: they do not adequately represent the interests of the common man. They have a reputation of being the party of the wealthy and of corporations. And this article is just one example of why that reputation is well deserved. The real irony of this article is that it is no stretch to suggest that the real slogan of many Republicans is "We love the rich, and we want them to be richer."
The article is meant to be overblown. Personally I found it quite funny, but in all seriousness, let's clarify a few misconceptions about how much tax the wealthy pay in this country and how a repeal of the estate truly affects society at large.
Myth: The rich do not pay their fair share of taxes and therefore should not get a significant share of a tax cut.
Reality: According to data from the Internal Revenue Service, the top 1 percent of income earners pay nearly 35 percent of the income tax burden; the top 10 percent pay 65 percent; and the top 25 percent pay nearly 83 percent. The bottom 50 percent of income earners, on the other hand, pay barely 4 percent of income taxes.
Myth: The death tax affects only the very rich.
Reality: Only 2 percent of deaths may result in an estate tax liability, but many more families are forced to engage in costly and inefficient tax planning in order to avoid the tax. The burden of the tax, however, extends beyond those who either face the tax or take steps to avoid it. The death tax affects every family that lives in a community where a family-owned business must be liquidated to pay the tax. The death tax affects every worker when investments are sent offshore as families seek to protect their assets from this unfair form of double taxation. And the death tax affects everyone who loses income because a significant amount of money is invested for tax-minimization and tax-avoidance purposes instead of wealth-creation purposes.
I am very sorry that the millionaires of this country have to engage in costly estate planning to avoid paying the estate tax. How insensitive of all the working class and poor to require that of them. They fortunately don't make enough money to ever have that problem. And as to so called "family owned businesses" being liquidated, I will believe that "myth" when I see it.
But you can go on defending the rich, it simply proves my point, Republicans are the party of corporations and the wealthy.
You are right though Elephant, the article was funny, in an Ann Coulter kind of way.
It's easy to say boo hoo for the rich because it draws on people's sympathies for the poor and a perceived disgust for the wealthy, but the article makes some good points about how wealth trickles down to the rest of the country. If you want a socialist regime, move to Cuba, move to Russia, move to France; and you'll see what it's like to live in a country where the government sucks out the incentive to create wealth in the name of "class welfare."
4 comments:
Wow. That has to be one of the craziest articles I have ever read. It should come with a disclaimer: Not appropriate for anyone with common sense! This article makes Ann Coulter look fair and balanced. Lets get real here. How would this author propose paying for Bush's 150 billion dollar war? If not through the estate tax, where? Maybe he would like to cut the size of the military, or the department of homeland security? Perhaps he would like to let the rich enjoy a tax break by asking our schools to go without federal funding or asking the states to fund their own roads, dams, and other major projects. Katrina victims? Fend for yourselves. While we're at it, why don't we just get rid of the federal government all together and let the rich run the country. Oh wait, they already do.
Boo hoo the poor multi-millionaires. They have such hard lives. I can't believe they have to pay more in taxes then all their servants and maids and limo drivers do?
In all seriousness, this article illustrates the fundamental problem with the Republican party: they do not adequately represent the interests of the common man. They have a reputation of being the party of the wealthy and of corporations. And this article is just one example of why that reputation is well deserved. The real irony of this article is that it is no stretch to suggest that the real slogan of many Republicans is "We love the rich, and we want them to be richer."
The article is meant to be overblown. Personally I found it quite funny, but in all seriousness, let's clarify a few misconceptions about how much tax the wealthy pay in this country and how a repeal of the estate truly affects society at large.
Myth: The rich do not pay their fair share of taxes and therefore should not get a significant share of a tax cut.
Reality: According to data from the Internal Revenue Service, the top 1 percent of income earners pay nearly 35 percent of the income tax burden; the top 10 percent pay 65 percent; and the top 25 percent pay nearly 83 percent. The bottom 50 percent of income earners, on the other hand, pay barely 4 percent of income taxes.
Myth: The death tax affects only the very rich.
Reality: Only 2 percent of deaths may result in an estate tax liability, but many more families are forced to engage in costly and inefficient tax planning in order to avoid the tax. The burden of the tax, however, extends beyond those who either face the tax or take steps to avoid it. The death tax affects every family that lives in a community where a family-owned business must be liquidated to pay the tax. The death tax affects every worker when investments are sent offshore as families seek to protect their assets from this unfair form of double taxation. And the death tax affects everyone who loses income because a significant amount of money is invested for tax-minimization and tax-avoidance purposes instead of wealth-creation purposes.
Source: The Heritage Foundation.
I am very sorry that the millionaires of this country have to engage in costly estate planning to avoid paying the estate tax. How insensitive of all the working class and poor to require that of them. They fortunately don't make enough money to ever have that problem. And as to so called "family owned businesses" being liquidated, I will believe that "myth" when I see it.
But you can go on defending the rich, it simply proves my point, Republicans are the party of corporations and the wealthy.
You are right though Elephant, the article was funny, in an Ann Coulter kind of way.
It's easy to say boo hoo for the rich because it draws on people's sympathies for the poor and a perceived disgust for the wealthy, but the article makes some good points about how wealth trickles down to the rest of the country. If you want a socialist regime, move to Cuba, move to Russia, move to France; and you'll see what it's like to live in a country where the government sucks out the incentive to create wealth in the name of "class welfare."
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