Lay 'death tax' debate to rest

[ColbertWatcher]

From the Los Angeles Times
Lay 'death tax' debate to rest
The tax currently hits fewer than 3 in 1,000 estates and has exemptions and deferments for the rest. Yet it consumes enormous time and energy in Washington.
Michael Hiltzik
April 13, 2009

Everybody's familiar with Ben Franklin’s old saw about nothing being certain but death and taxes. But how about the "death tax"?

That's the loaded term employed by opponents of the estate tax, which has been part of the federal tax code for more than 90 years and the subject of furious repeal campaigns for almost that long.

Thanks to lobbyists and legislators looking out for the welfare of the richest Americans, the tax currently hits fewer than 3 of every 1,000 estates every year and bristles with exemptions and deferments for the rest. Its contribution to the federal treasury is about 1% of all revenue.

Yet it consumes enormous mind share in Washington. This month, a new tax-cut proposal from Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) won Senate approval. The resolution would raise the exemption on taxable estates to $10 million from the current $7 million (after the death of both spouses). It also would cut the rate charged on the nonexempt portion to 35% from the current 45%.

The tax is currently set to fall to zero for 2010 and return with a $1-million exemption and a 55% rate in 2011; President Obama proposes merely making today's exemption and rates permanent.

(more at the link)

--Los Angeles Times

[Taverner]

1. The Paris Hilton Tax is my favorite name for it

[ColbertWatcher]

2. LOL! Poor Paris. No matter what she does with the rest of her life ...

... she'll always be known as an airhead.

[Taverner]

4. Dunno if she's an airhead, but don't you want her paying taxes on her inheritance?

Because those are the folks getting taxed, not Joe Blow and his 25K life insurance policy...

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Yes, of course.

But, I think maybe instead of that young kid, maybe it should be nicknamed the "Rockefeller" or "Rothschild" tax? Something that says filthy rich instead of stupid and filthy rich, but mostly stupid.

[Taverner]

9. Filthy rich/stupid and filthy rich - what's the difference?

Both are filthy :P

[ColbertWatcher]

13. By bringing in teh stupid, it helps to distract from the filthy rich, IMO. n/t

[varkam]

14. Ypu remember when she did time and came out saying she wanted to work for reform...

and pro-social change? Remember?


:rofl:

[ColbertWatcher]

16. She's young and stupid and filthy rich.

Which means the GOP-controlled media will use any excuse to follow her around and broadcast everything she does.

I don't blame her for wanting to try to do something responsible.

[varkam]

18. That's the thing - I think it was a PR ploy.

It doesn't take much effort to open your mouth - she seems to have no problem with it. Why can't things relating to, say, prison reform spill out of it instead of inanity?

[mmonk]

12. .

[TornadoTN]

3. K&R - this needs to be circulated to all who engage in this debate nt

[no_hypocrisy]

5. If it's zero in 2010, there will be some unexplained deaths . . . .

[Burma Jones]

6. An excellent post and the article is very illuminating

And I am one of those 3 out of a thousand that the Estate Tax affects......

Of course, Estates are set up such that even with a 45% tax, much of what will be inherited will never be taxed. So, this whole Death Tax thing is a load of horseshit for the Teabaggers, few of whom I believe will ever have to be troubled by a large estate.....

[ColbertWatcher]

8. The tea baggers believe they will some day be rich.

But, they don't understand what prevents them from being rich and how the estate tax plays into it.

It's nice that they want to one day be rich, but it's sad they have no understanding whatsoever about how the rich work to prevent others from joining in their little club.

[sui generis]

10. Seriously I'm against the death tax altogether

Or rather, tax it as simple income, PERIOD, above exemption. I don't care much about details of the exemption, except what fucking idiot thought up $1 million, and why $1 million and not 1.2 or .8 or 1.8? Was it just a round number that they happened to like? Really, can $1 million (as a rationally derived exemption) be justified?

Really what the fuck is up with the social engineering, both sides of this idiot aisle?

Let me also continue on to cigarette taxes and "luxury" and "sin" taxes. More dickbrainery. The gummint is not paying medical bills for personal moral failures. Believe me you die owing the hospital they will sell your firstborn human child for whatever they DON'T get out of probate court and throw your widow's withered buttcheeks out on the street.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. I don't know who created this "idiot aisle" you refer to.

Just because one side labels fair taxes on estates a "death tax" in order to manipulate voters doesn't necessarily mean the side that wants to tax it like normal income (such as what you propose) is "engineering" anything.

If you want to talk about dickbrainery, don't forget that the GOP-controlled media don't sell "death tax" they sell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_fear">doubt.

[sui generis]

19. clarification

"we must keep wealth from being concentrated" is the most frequent rationale.

I wasn't attacking the OP - just the social notions of inheritance tax as being a special tax.

I don't believe the media is GOP controlled, any more, or as much. I don't buy into the political messaging of either side using the issue, although I will say that we are equally guilty of selling doubt and outrage on the issue.

It makes it pretty hard for fairly normal people to take a realistic stance though without getting it from both sides.

I DO find it ironic that from year to year we either support the IRS going after the bad guys or we hate the IRS for being the bad guys. The fact is, both are true, and precisely for reasons that come back around to social engineering (no stigma associated to the term in this case).

[muntrv]

11. I think Warren Buffet calls it the "LUCKY SPERM TAX."

[ColbertWatcher]

17. Interesting term. n/t