In my opinion, the whole teabagging deal is about two words.......estate taxes.......

[predfan]

Watch Grover Norquist twist these poor dummies into supporting the elimination of the "death tax".......

if ignorance is bliss, it'll be a happy day in America today.

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. And if they say Death Tax, counter it with what the Democrats should call it

The Paris Hilton tax!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. ...which was just cut.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/08/lincoln-estate/

[KharmaTrain]

3. It's About Being Selfish

I met with my accountant last night...an estate specialist. He joked that if he were a GOOPer and had money he'd think about offing himself as the laws have made it easier to transfer wealth to dependents but those lax rules will sunset with the boooosh tax giveaway in 2011. Yep, those taxes and capital gains (a long time GOOP stalking horse) are part of this noise, but I think this goes to a far more purian instinct...the GOOPs attempts to appeal to the most simple and the selfish.

[Bobcat]

4. Death Tax?

What about the "birth tax" Republicans have imposed on every one of us, including newborns. Individual share of the national debt is now up to about 35K per US citizen. "Voodoo economics" has produced disastrous results.

[Lex]

5. There's no federal "death tax" until your estate at death is 1.6 million dollars

or more so I'm sure all these freepers are really effected by it.

[Solomon]

8. Nope. Try 3.5 million. That's how much you have to have

to trigger the federal estate tax.

[Lex]

10. Heh, the exemption has been expanded so much

since I last dealt with it!

http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/taxes/will-you-owe-estate-taxes-9554/

[Coyote_Bandit]

6. We like

to pretend that estate taxes only affect the wealthy. But estate taxes can be a devastating problem for small family businesses and for family farms. Consider the following circumstances:

(1) Older generation purchased real estate in the late 1920's and used it for farming,
(2) As additional adjoining acreage became available they purchased it and also used it for farming,
(3) All of the real estate in question has a pre-1960 tax basis and a significant portion of it has a pre-1930 tax basis,
(4) The farmer earned a modest income, lived a frugal lifestyle, had almost no investments outside of the farm,
(5) The farmer reinvested his profits back into the farm by purchasing additional real estate,
(6) As farmer ages his child assumes a role working on the farm and the farm becomes that child's single source of income,
(7) Farmer's grandson does likewise,
(8) The farm is the livlihood and single source of income for three generations and provides a modest income requiring long hours of effort,
(9) Property values appreciate signficantly and by the time the farmer dies (well into his 90's) the real estate is valued at well over $2 million,
(10) The real estate is included in the farmer's estate for tax purposes - and that real estate has a negligible tax basis,
(11) The tax rate on a $2 million dollar estate approaches 46% creating an estate tax liability of over $750,000,
(12) The surviving family place the real estate for sale in order to pay the tax liability and it is purchased by a billionaire real estate speculator,
(13) Farmer's child retires, continues to live a frugal lifestyle and invests the proceeds of the sale with hopes of living off the income it generates,
(14) Stock market crashes and farmer's child is left with greatly diminished account although the brokers and banks seem to have made out just fine,
(14) Farmer's grandson finds that he is largely unemployable and goes to work at Wal-Mart.

I watched this happen and know everyone involved. These folks were robbed by the estate tax laws. They lost their single greatest asset, their primary source of savings and their livlihood. But taxpayers benefitted. So did the bankers and brokers and realtors. And the billionaire real estate speculator.

There needs to be a distinction made regarding the taxation for estate tax purposes of ongoing business and farming operations and the taxation of financial investments. It is one thing to require the liquidation of securities in order to pay estate tax. It is quite another to require that an ongoing business or farming operation be liquidated in order to pay those taxes.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. All of that could have been avoided with a trust..

And #13 through 15 have nothing to do with the estate tax. Your friend is joining everyone else in their investments taking a bath.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. I was thinking of two words also

Barack Obama

[L0oniX]

9. Dems who voted for the tax break for the rich assholes...

Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) recently introduced a $250 billion amendment to slash estate taxes for the heirs of multimillion-dollar estates. Yesterday, the Senate narrowly passed the bill by a 51-48 vote. Joining Republicans in approving the bill were ten Senate Democrats:

Baucus (D-MT), Bayh (D-IN), Cantwell (D-WA), Landrieu (D-LA), Lincoln (D-AR), Murray (D-WA), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Tester (D-MT)

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/03/estate-tax-lincoln-democrats/

I emailed Nelson and told him he lost my registered Dem vote!

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. Well, maybe. I think it's more about "Top 10%" n/t