Don't Kyl the Estate Tax
Estate Tax--Kyl continues working for the ultra wealthy, by Linda Beale: Jon Kyl doesn't think much about the government helping the unemployed who have been laid off because of the financial crisis... He's afraid that providing additional unemployment compensation will keep people from working--as though it is laziness and not trying circumstances that has forced people out of jobs and on the public dole. Kyl clearly doesn't get it. ...
But Kyl does work hard for his friends. He would like to repeal the estate tax, so the country's millionaires and billionaires wouldn't ... have to pay their fair share of the tax burden. ...Kyl ... wants ... Congress to pass yet another tax cut that benefits those extraordinary wealthy heirs who've done nothing to earn their inheritance. He knows that with the fiscal stress this country is under, there's no way Congress would pass the repeal the GOP pines for. And if nothing is done, we're back where we were pre-Bush (which is not a bad place to be--if only we could unwind Iraq and all the mess Bush made of the economy...).
So Kyl plans a "compromise" -- getting the extraordinary wealthy half the tax cut that he'd hope to give them, with the idea that the rest will be doable at a later date. It is really the "death" tax -- death of necessary government funding by a million cuts. And the corporatist senators, with no guts to fight the wealthy "entitlements" appear to be heading towards agreeing to Kyl's ridiculous proposal -- an exemption of $5 million with zero tax, and a measly 35% rate on the excess over that amount. ...
Congresspeople ... say we ... can't do any further stimulus ... even though we have millions out of work and ordinary people are hurting while bankers ... continue to make millions off the cheaper cost of funds handed them because of the governmental bailout -- because it would cost too much. Yet at the same time that they whine about the deficit, cry crocodile tears over the cuts they so regrettably find themselves forced to make in Social Security, they can contemplate another giveaway entitlement package for the ultra wealthy -- one that will cost $15 billion a year. ...
The estate tax ought to be changed, all right. Make the exemption amount $3 million if you must. But also make the rate a graduated tax...
And, speaking of taxes on the wealthy and benefits for the unemployed:
The Unemployed Held Hostage, Editorial, NY Times: Since June 1, when federal unemployment benefits began to expire, an estimated 325,000 jobless workers have been cut off. That number will swell to 1.25 million by the end of the month unless Congress extends the benefits. The Senate, so far, has failed to act.
Some senators, including Democrats, have balked at an unrelated provision that would begin to close a tax loophole enjoyed by some of the richest Americans. You heard right. Desperately needed unemployment benefits have been held hostage to a tax break for the rich, and the Senate’s Democratic leadership has had to delay and finagle to get its own caucus in line. ...
[U]nemployment benefits are correctly considered emergency spending — they are a vital safety net, and the money is crucial to supporting consumer demand in a weak economy — and exempt from pay-as-you-go budget rules.
Nonemergency provisions in the bill do need to be paid for, including renewal of several generally useful business tax breaks... To help cover those costs, Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate started out with the sound idea to close an egregious tax loophole that allows wealthy fund managers at private equity firms and other investment partnerships to pay a top tax rate of just 15 percent on much of their earnings — versus a top rate of 35 percent for all other higher-income Americans. ...
Many private equity mavens, venture capitalists and other partnerships have lobbied to keep as much of the loophole as they can. Most Republicans and some Democratic senators — including John Kerry..., Mark Warner.. and Maria Cantwell... — are doing their bidding. ...
The right thing to do is obvious. The House and Senate should immediately extend unemployment benefits and aid to states and close the fund-managers’ tax loophole — completely.
That so many senators have balked is a bad sign for the economy and for the most vulnerable Americans. The fact that lawmakers are not willing to ask the nation’s wealthiest to pay their fair share of taxes also makes a mockery of all their talk about deficit reduction.
Posted by Mark Thoma on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 01:08 AM in Economics, Politics, Taxes |
Permalink
Comments (49)