Transcript from "Where's the Outrage?" from September 15 2006
Alright folks here we are on another edition of where’s the outrage, and we’re talking about a tax that affects so few families but generates a great deal of revenue for our indebted federal government. The estate tax has been around in some form or another since before 1800. It’s morphed from a negligible tax of 5-percent to today’s top rate 46-percent. It’s a tax that only the super wealthy pay. If someone passes on less than 2 million dollars to you, you do not pay this tax. And even if someone does pass on more than 2 million dollars to you, there are lots of way to worm your way out of paying the tax.
Yet republican politicians have repeatedly misrepresented the nature of this tax. They like to call it the death tax, and they try to strike the hearts of middle class Americans by claiming that family farms and small businesses are affected by the tax. Well besides the fact that they haven’t been able to find even one farmer or small business owner to come forward and say he was seriously hurt by this tax is indicative of the misinformation flying everywhere about the estate tax, so why don’t we take a few minutes and learn the facts about this tax on the super wealthy socialites of America. Just a warning now, if you don’t like numbers and stats, I suggest you go listen to one of my other commentaries.
For starters, the first estate tax came in 1797 to help pay for Naval rearmament. It required only wealthy estates to purchase federal stamps and was then revoked in 1801 because the need for such revenue had passed.
The tax was brought back in 1862 during the civil was, again for government funding and ranged from between .75 percent and 5 percent. The tax was again abolished in 1870 only to return in 1898 to help fund the Spanish American war. It had a top tax rate of 15 percent on estates over 1-million dollars and was once again abolished in 1902.
Finally the estate tax returned—this time to stay in 1916 with a top rate of 10-percent on estates of 5-million dollars or more. A year later the rate was raise to 25-percent but only on estates of 10-million or more.
FDR hiked the estate tax to 60-percent in 1934, and 70 percent a year later. Today it stands at a top rate of 46-percent on estates over 2-million dollars. There are a lot of ways to get out of paying this tax too. Most spouses can get out of paying the tax all together or at least at a significantly diminished rate as long as the entire estate comes to them.
There’s also a specific clause in the law that allows family farms to escape the tax.
Now here’s how the tax actually works. You have a wealthy uncle who wants to leave you and your brother 3 and a half million dollars equally between the two of you. Since this is 2006 and the maximum amount of the estate that can be exempted is 2-million dollars, only 1 and a half million will actually be taxes at the 46 percent rate. That comes out to a total tax of about 690-thousand dollars. So remember it’s not 46-percent on 3 and half million dollars, its 46 percent on the million and a half over the exemption.
That means you and your brother get a million dollars TOTALLY TAX FREE, and another 405 thousand after taxes. Sounds pretty fair don’t you think? A million dollars, tax free that you didn’t earn. A million dollars you’d get because you’re lucky. Isn’t it fair for you to give up some of the rest of it to the government who protects you?
Well not according to republicans and the super wealthy families that have injected millions of dollars into lobbying campaigns to repeal this tax. Through 2010 the amount that can be exempted will rise from 2 million now to 3 and a half million in 2009, and then the tax totally disappears for a year in 2010 before returning to the original 2001 rate of 55-percent on estates of more than a million dollars.
How much will the year 2010 cost the fed because of no estate tax? Tens of BILLIONS of dollars according to the tax policy center. And as much as 1-trillion dollars over a decade if the tax is repealed for good, the way president Bush and republicans want it. A TRILLION DOLLARS! That’s more than the entire social security shortfall that Bush has been scaring us about!
Conservatives say it isn’t fair to tax someone when they die, which is why they call it the death tax. But the reality is you obviously aren’t taxing someone when they die, you’re taxing the heir for inheriting unearned income.
Bush likes to call it a double or even a triple tax, because some of the estate may have been taxed as capital gains or been subject to property taxes, or both in the past and then having it taxed again makes it 3 times. But again IT’S ONE TAX that is NOT being paid by the decedent but by the HEIR. The heir didn’t pay capital gains, and they didn’t work for this money.
Conservatives say it hurts small businesses and farms, but they haven’t been able to produce any examples of that. Only 440 estate tax returns were filed in 2004. Again from the tax policy center, the average tax for all 440 returns came out to only 20-percent not 46 percent. And the average tax paid by estates of 2 to 5 million dollars did not exceed a half a million dollars.
Estates worth between 10 and 20 million dollars paid an average tax of 2-point-eight million dollars. So again we’re talking about a tax that is only paid by the most privileged members of this society, and the generous exemptions leave everyone with millions of dollars to do whatever they want with.
Conservatives say it’s bad for the economy because it discourages entrepreneurship, but that is totally unfounded. When we’re talking about millions of dollars already being exempted and millions of dollars in estate taxes that can be avoided through loopholes, how does that discourage entrepreneurship?
If you want to talk about discouraging business then repeal the tax and see what happens. You’ll see an even greater concentration of wealth than we are already seeing. If you have a few million dollars, that’s a lot of money but you have to make that money work if you want it to last the rest of your life. Get rid of the estate taxes, and these same socialites can just spend and spend and not have to worry about turning that money into more money because they have so much of it.
Thirty years ago the wealthiest one percent of this country controlled less than 20 percent of the wealth. Today, according to the Federal Reserve board, they control more than a third of the wealth in this country.
Again conservatives say this is socialist…maybe even communist! Redistributing wealth. But what is wrong about demanding 2 million dollars on a 15 million dollar estate that was achieved through NO hard work and NO productivity? Isn’t it a fair price to pay for an idle heir or heiress to fork over some money in exchange for living in the greatest country in the world that make it possible for her hard working mom dad or grandpa to make that money in the first place?
How can republicans be talking about cutting even more taxes while we continue to spend out of control? How can they possibly look their constituents in the eye with a straight face and claim that this is a tax that affects the middle class?
Because this whole campaign is being bankrolled by the super wealthy. According to a report from the United for a fair economy organization, 18 families worth a total of 185 billion dollars are the ones who want this thing repealed for good. Some of these families have posed as small businesses or farmers saying the tax jeopardizes their livelihood despite the fact that a vast majority of the farms in the United States are not even worth what could be taxable.
Only 5 of these 18 families contain people who actually EARNED those family fortunes. If they get this law repealed for good—which believe me the republicans have been working to do since Bush came into office—they will collectively save 71-BILLION dollars in taxes. What could this government do with 71 billion dollars folks?
Well if you think the Iraq war is still a great idea how about we give our soldiers some body armor? If you’re sick of traffic congested roads, how about we build some high speed rail lines? How about we throw a couple of billion of it aside for campaign financing, so our politicians wouldn’t be bought and sold through massive political contributions?
There are a myriad ways our government could spend this money. Money that this country needs. Do you think those 18 families cant find other ways to turn their remaining billions into more billions? Would they even notice that money being gone? Of course they wouldn’t. Ending the estate tax will not only deprive the government of money at a time when we need it most, it will continue to perpetuate this consolidation of wealth that has been occurring even with the estate tax for the past 3 decades.
I don’t care if you’re rich or poor, conservative or liberal, smart or stupid; DO NOT BELIEVE THE REPUBLICAN SPIN MACHINE ABOUT THE ESTATE TAX! We are almost 9-trillion dollars in debt! You want to keep cutting taxes? How long can this keep going on?
The estate tax has been a consistent and necessary part of the American tax system for nearly 100 consecutive years. It’s enjoyed widespread support for several generations because hey, Uber wealthy aristocracies are NOT a model of the American dream.
The hard working American people have been duped into believing that this tax affects them by the heirs and heiresses of this country. This tax has NEVER affected the middle class before, and it never will or should.
The Paris Hilton’s and Teresa Heinz’s of the world should be ashamed of themselves: peddling this kind of lie from behind their walled mansions. Absolutely disgusting!
Hey you still with me there? I know it’s a lot of numbers and talking about the tax system can be kind of daunting but folks this is an extremely important issue. And it’s indicative of this government to once again look to cut the taxes of the super rich. Isn’t it obvious Bush and his crew are just paying back all the buddies that helped make Bush the president in the first place? He’s gotta get all of the favors out of the way now cuse I think America has finally had enough of the Bush’s. I hope so anyway. NO MORE BUSH’S for president. That’s what I say. Vote your conscience this November. Boot these class warring conservatives out of office and GET MAD PEOPLE!
Alright folks here we are on another edition of where’s the outrage, and we’re talking about a tax that affects so few families but generates a great deal of revenue for our indebted federal government. The estate tax has been around in some form or another since before 1800. It’s morphed from a negligible tax of 5-percent to today’s top rate 46-percent. It’s a tax that only the super wealthy pay. If someone passes on less than 2 million dollars to you, you do not pay this tax. And even if someone does pass on more than 2 million dollars to you, there are lots of way to worm your way out of paying the tax.
Yet republican politicians have repeatedly misrepresented the nature of this tax. They like to call it the death tax, and they try to strike the hearts of middle class Americans by claiming that family farms and small businesses are affected by the tax. Well besides the fact that they haven’t been able to find even one farmer or small business owner to come forward and say he was seriously hurt by this tax is indicative of the misinformation flying everywhere about the estate tax, so why don’t we take a few minutes and learn the facts about this tax on the super wealthy socialites of America. Just a warning now, if you don’t like numbers and stats, I suggest you go listen to one of my other commentaries.
For starters, the first estate tax came in 1797 to help pay for Naval rearmament. It required only wealthy estates to purchase federal stamps and was then revoked in 1801 because the need for such revenue had passed.
The tax was brought back in 1862 during the civil was, again for government funding and ranged from between .75 percent and 5 percent. The tax was again abolished in 1870 only to return in 1898 to help fund the Spanish American war. It had a top tax rate of 15 percent on estates over 1-million dollars and was once again abolished in 1902.
Finally the estate tax returned—this time to stay in 1916 with a top rate of 10-percent on estates of 5-million dollars or more. A year later the rate was raise to 25-percent but only on estates of 10-million or more.
FDR hiked the estate tax to 60-percent in 1934, and 70 percent a year later. Today it stands at a top rate of 46-percent on estates over 2-million dollars. There are a lot of ways to get out of paying this tax too. Most spouses can get out of paying the tax all together or at least at a significantly diminished rate as long as the entire estate comes to them.
There’s also a specific clause in the law that allows family farms to escape the tax.
Now here’s how the tax actually works. You have a wealthy uncle who wants to leave you and your brother 3 and a half million dollars equally between the two of you. Since this is 2006 and the maximum amount of the estate that can be exempted is 2-million dollars, only 1 and a half million will actually be taxes at the 46 percent rate. That comes out to a total tax of about 690-thousand dollars. So remember it’s not 46-percent on 3 and half million dollars, its 46 percent on the million and a half over the exemption.
That means you and your brother get a million dollars TOTALLY TAX FREE, and another 405 thousand after taxes. Sounds pretty fair don’t you think? A million dollars, tax free that you didn’t earn. A million dollars you’d get because you’re lucky. Isn’t it fair for you to give up some of the rest of it to the government who protects you?
Well not according to republicans and the super wealthy families that have injected millions of dollars into lobbying campaigns to repeal this tax. Through 2010 the amount that can be exempted will rise from 2 million now to 3 and a half million in 2009, and then the tax totally disappears for a year in 2010 before returning to the original 2001 rate of 55-percent on estates of more than a million dollars.
How much will the year 2010 cost the fed because of no estate tax? Tens of BILLIONS of dollars according to the tax policy center. And as much as 1-trillion dollars over a decade if the tax is repealed for good, the way president Bush and republicans want it. A TRILLION DOLLARS! That’s more than the entire social security shortfall that Bush has been scaring us about!
Conservatives say it isn’t fair to tax someone when they die, which is why they call it the death tax. But the reality is you obviously aren’t taxing someone when they die, you’re taxing the heir for inheriting unearned income.
Bush likes to call it a double or even a triple tax, because some of the estate may have been taxed as capital gains or been subject to property taxes, or both in the past and then having it taxed again makes it 3 times. But again IT’S ONE TAX that is NOT being paid by the decedent but by the HEIR. The heir didn’t pay capital gains, and they didn’t work for this money.
Conservatives say it hurts small businesses and farms, but they haven’t been able to produce any examples of that. Only 440 estate tax returns were filed in 2004. Again from the tax policy center, the average tax for all 440 returns came out to only 20-percent not 46 percent. And the average tax paid by estates of 2 to 5 million dollars did not exceed a half a million dollars.
Estates worth between 10 and 20 million dollars paid an average tax of 2-point-eight million dollars. So again we’re talking about a tax that is only paid by the most privileged members of this society, and the generous exemptions leave everyone with millions of dollars to do whatever they want with.
Conservatives say it’s bad for the economy because it discourages entrepreneurship, but that is totally unfounded. When we’re talking about millions of dollars already being exempted and millions of dollars in estate taxes that can be avoided through loopholes, how does that discourage entrepreneurship?
If you want to talk about discouraging business then repeal the tax and see what happens. You’ll see an even greater concentration of wealth than we are already seeing. If you have a few million dollars, that’s a lot of money but you have to make that money work if you want it to last the rest of your life. Get rid of the estate taxes, and these same socialites can just spend and spend and not have to worry about turning that money into more money because they have so much of it.
Thirty years ago the wealthiest one percent of this country controlled less than 20 percent of the wealth. Today, according to the Federal Reserve board, they control more than a third of the wealth in this country.
Again conservatives say this is socialist…maybe even communist! Redistributing wealth. But what is wrong about demanding 2 million dollars on a 15 million dollar estate that was achieved through NO hard work and NO productivity? Isn’t it a fair price to pay for an idle heir or heiress to fork over some money in exchange for living in the greatest country in the world that make it possible for her hard working mom dad or grandpa to make that money in the first place?
How can republicans be talking about cutting even more taxes while we continue to spend out of control? How can they possibly look their constituents in the eye with a straight face and claim that this is a tax that affects the middle class?
Because this whole campaign is being bankrolled by the super wealthy. According to a report from the United for a fair economy organization, 18 families worth a total of 185 billion dollars are the ones who want this thing repealed for good. Some of these families have posed as small businesses or farmers saying the tax jeopardizes their livelihood despite the fact that a vast majority of the farms in the United States are not even worth what could be taxable.
Only 5 of these 18 families contain people who actually EARNED those family fortunes. If they get this law repealed for good—which believe me the republicans have been working to do since Bush came into office—they will collectively save 71-BILLION dollars in taxes. What could this government do with 71 billion dollars folks?
Well if you think the Iraq war is still a great idea how about we give our soldiers some body armor? If you’re sick of traffic congested roads, how about we build some high speed rail lines? How about we throw a couple of billion of it aside for campaign financing, so our politicians wouldn’t be bought and sold through massive political contributions?
There are a myriad ways our government could spend this money. Money that this country needs. Do you think those 18 families cant find other ways to turn their remaining billions into more billions? Would they even notice that money being gone? Of course they wouldn’t. Ending the estate tax will not only deprive the government of money at a time when we need it most, it will continue to perpetuate this consolidation of wealth that has been occurring even with the estate tax for the past 3 decades.
I don’t care if you’re rich or poor, conservative or liberal, smart or stupid; DO NOT BELIEVE THE REPUBLICAN SPIN MACHINE ABOUT THE ESTATE TAX! We are almost 9-trillion dollars in debt! You want to keep cutting taxes? How long can this keep going on?
The estate tax has been a consistent and necessary part of the American tax system for nearly 100 consecutive years. It’s enjoyed widespread support for several generations because hey, Uber wealthy aristocracies are NOT a model of the American dream.
The hard working American people have been duped into believing that this tax affects them by the heirs and heiresses of this country. This tax has NEVER affected the middle class before, and it never will or should.
The Paris Hilton’s and Teresa Heinz’s of the world should be ashamed of themselves: peddling this kind of lie from behind their walled mansions. Absolutely disgusting!
Hey you still with me there? I know it’s a lot of numbers and talking about the tax system can be kind of daunting but folks this is an extremely important issue. And it’s indicative of this government to once again look to cut the taxes of the super rich. Isn’t it obvious Bush and his crew are just paying back all the buddies that helped make Bush the president in the first place? He’s gotta get all of the favors out of the way now cuse I think America has finally had enough of the Bush’s. I hope so anyway. NO MORE BUSH’S for president. That’s what I say. Vote your conscience this November. Boot these class warring conservatives out of office and GET MAD PEOPLE!
posted by Desmond Ortega at 12:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home