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Finally President Bush is standing up for the rich. Airlifting in fois gras and Veuve Cliquot could not have come at a more dire time for those effected by the “death tax.”
President Bush is encouraging members of Congress not to delay in their efforts to improve the fortunes of some of the worst suffering Americans: those devastated by the estate tax. Mr. Bush said that repealing the tax could aid tens, even dozens of Americans.
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President Bush plans to visit Bridgehampton, NY, Aspen, CO and Rancho Santa Fe, CA later this week, where he will tour the mansions of some of the Americans hardest hit by the tax. Aides to the President say that he will first survey the properties from the air in an effort to assess the impact of the estate tax on landscaping, pool maintenance and fleets of cars.
Bush to Tour Mansions Ravaged by Estate Tax [The Swift Report]
Everyone is impacted by the estate tax, not just rich people. Many family and small businesses cannot remain open after the passing of their previous owner. Think about it–if you inherit $700,000 from your father, you have to pay $259,000 of that to the federal government. But that $700,000 has already been taxed, because your father earned it either through his job (where it was taxed by the income tax) or through the stock market (where it was taxed by the capital gains tax). Or he inherited it from his father, in which case it was taxed by the death tax already, making that money taxed three times.
It’s the “Estate Tax” not the “Real Estate Tax.” It is a tax on estates that occurs after the founder/creator of the wealth has died. To repeat, after the person has DIED. What business the government has taxing wealth after the creator has died eludes me. The fact is that even with the estate tax in place, very wealthy families structure their business dealings in such a way as to minimize or even eliminate the impact of the tax–so playing the envy card or saying something like “people like Paris Hilton will benefit from the repeal of the estate tax” is pretty much a moot point (this is of course assuming that Paris is very wealth, which she is not). Eliminating the estate tax will allow family owned farms, manufacturing plants, and other businesses to remain owned by the family–instead of forcing the family to sell at cut-rate prices to huge, predatory conglomorates because the tax is due relatively soon after death. Eliminating this tax will stop destroying wealth, greatly reduce the parasitical estate planning and insurance industry, and allow wealth and business asset ownership to remain diversified.
The above two posts are right. The estate tax (not “real estate tax”) is not only a double-tax (tax on money that already was taxed) but also makes it difficult for family-owned businesses to stay in a family.
But this does affect wealthy people more than poor people and not good timing given recent events.
What??? He should have used that money for the suffering in New Orleans. The bastard.
Who is the HOMO in the cape??
Posting the swift report’s fake articles aren’t funny here… unless you believe they’re real, in which case, that’s pretty funny. :)