Posted on 03/30/2005 11:04:15 AM PST by paltz
Taxing the estates of wealthy Washingtonians to provide essential services to the state "is a very sensible, very socially responsible thing to do," William H. Gates Sr. said yesterday.
Gates, the father of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was joined by Democratic lawmakers and others who support restoring Washington's estate tax, which was overturned last month by the state Supreme Court.
"This is not a tax on wealthy people. It's a tax on the grateful heirs of wealthy people," he said. "It's a tax on what's left after having lived ... a comfortable life."
Gates expressed support for Gov. Christine Gregoire's proposal to tax estates worth at least $2 million, something she says would raise $129.4 million over the next two years.
He said the higher exemption helps those of more modest wealth.
"There's an awful lot of people who have a net worth of a million dollars, given the increase in value in one's home," Gates said. "If I were a member of our Legislature I would be a fan of the $2 million exemption, but there's certainly a legitimate argument that it should be lower."
Before the Supreme Court ruling, the state tax threshold for estates had been on an increasing scale. In 2003, the threshold was $700,000; it grew to $950,000 by this year.
The court ruling ending the tax creates a potential revenue loss of $430 million over the next two years for the state, including a retroactive refund that could be as high as $150 million. That caused concern for lawmakers, who are facing a $1.6 billion spending gap in the upcoming budget cycle.
The majority Senate Democrats' budget, released Monday, proposes a slightly larger estate tax than Gregoire's plan, at first taxing estates of more than $1.5 million and then moving to her level of more than $2 million, providing $135 million over two years. The majority House Democrats are to release their budget proposal next week.
The estate tax would help pay for Initiative 728, which gives school-districts grants to reduce class sizes.
Wow! That's good bumpersticker material!!! Work on shortening if you can...
Yeah, sure. And it's also a great way for the income redistributionists who, unsatisfied with the fact that they already taxed it as income, want to re-tax what remains and further reduce how much of it the real owners get to keep.
Of course, this is necessary and proper, since the deceased person would have normally have been expected to spend their earnings, thus allowing the government to further pillage the money through sales tax.
Figure it out. Ya take a dollar in income, and reduce it by oh, say 30 cents for state, local, federal and FICA. That leaves you with 70 cents, which is only 65 cents worth of spending money, after you figure in a 7% sales tax.
The person you who receives your 65 cents, is then taxed at 30% as income, leaving him 45 cents or so, which means he's only really got 42 cents to spend.
Within about four transactions, the government takes it all.
Somebody tell me, does Bill Gates have any offspring to pass his fortune on to? It's easy to be socially responsible if you have billions to give away and nobody to give it to.
If people really understood the level of taxation that currently exists in this country, we would be looking at a second Revolution.
Farms aren't sold off to pay the "death tax" anymore. They're sold off because the farmer's kids don't want to run the farm the way their parents did.
Bill Gates Sr. is a financial planner or attorney who specializes in developing financial plans for wealthy people to take advantage of loopholes in the estate tax law. Without a hefty estate tax in place, he's not going to be getting a lot of business.
Point taken. Notice I also included something about large tracts of privately held land? Family business also fall prey to death taxes which inevitably get eaten up by "evil" corporations.
They way I see it, the death tax is just plain evil. It is another tax on money already taxed, further stealing from those that worked hard to earn what they have earned.
I stand to inherit a substantial sum and of course want that sum as large as possible. How does the government deaerva any portion of that?
Okay, okay, enough with the crying already. Your parents are dead, we all feel sorry for you. Now cough up the dough, or me and the boys are going have to get rough with you!
And a WELL deserved one. Sign me up.
Here's a great story for you. I don't know if you're an NFL fan, but the estate tax was actually the underlying motivation behind the relocation of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore back in the 1990s. Owner Art Modell was getting on in years, and the value of the Browns franchise had grown so dramatically that his heirs would have been forced to sell it just to pay the estate tax on it when he died. The city of Baltimore provided some kind of sweetheart deal for a new stadium that guaranteed sufficient cash up front for the estate tax to be paid at any point in the future.
The government doesn't deserve one thin dime of it. But, they'll take it anyway.
Of course. Estate planners hate the very idea of removing or lessening the tax on families. It takes away their business.
There is one reason and one reason alone for the publics ignorance on how much tax they pay.
WITHHOLDING!
Withholding was instituted in WWII to assure the government a constrant stream of money to pay for the war. I can not and would not object to such a measure. It was also supposed to be ended when the war ended. It was, but was again reinstated.
If withholding was ended and people had to WRITE A CHECK for the taxes they owe every quarter there would be a swift mobilization for a tax revolt.
And to do your own research on peoples ignorance of how much they pay in taxes, start asking family, friends, co-workers etc... if they have done their taxes yet. If they have, ask them how much they had to pay in taxes.
Virtually NONE will know, and then the vast majority of those remaining will say "I got money back!"
Also, the Miami Dolphins had to be sold to pay the estate tax.
I like being a FReeper. I don't think I would have learned that anywhere else!
Well put!! I have always thought that death taxes were a scandal. Just think about it -- you get taxed (at a high rate, I might add) for DYING!!!! As if being taxed while being alive isn't enough!! No wonder the dem/lib/socialists/communists want euthanasia -- more tax money to spend -- fewer people to spend it on.
Both Gates' are dye in the wool socialists. They are hypocrites about taxes. I despise their arrogance. The Sr. Gates has no problem with the most immoral of taxes, the death tax. Has someone asked him about the families destroyed by this tax? Sr. Gates is the worse kind of elitist -- rich and liberal.
exactly, as Rush has reminded us so often. The sad thing is BOTH parties will never touch changing withholding so that people pay the taxes themselves. Oh, what a eye opener to most it would be if they cut the checks each week to uncle Sam ($$$ waster)
"Bounced Out of The Buckboard on The Way Home From The Hospital" Alert
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