Fate of Estate Tax Imperils Obama’s Ambitions

New York Times ^ | April 11, 2009 | Carl Hulse

[reaganaut1]

The death tax is the issue that simply will not die.

Fifteen years after Republican strategists put Democrats on the defensive by sticking that pejorative label on the federal estate tax, Democrats are still struggling with how to handle the levy on assets left behind — the one that conservatives portray as the Internal Revenue Service reaching beyond the grave.

Studies show that the tax hits merely a sliver of wealthy American families. A proposal by President Obama would leave it at current levels, affecting only estates valued at more than $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples.

But now some Democrats have joined Republicans to call for setting the threshold even higher, in a rebellion that could have important consequences not just for the future of the death tax but also for Mr. Obama’s efforts to pay for his ambitious policy agenda.

...

“This isn’t for the wealthy, this is for the super-wealthy,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said as the Senate took up the estate tax issue during its budget deliberations. “Even in the best of times, there is no question that we could find a better use for an extra $100 billion.”

But 10 Democrats, led by Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, defied Mr. Reid. They joined with Republicans to urge an increase in the value of estates exempt from the tax above the level backed by Mr. Obama (to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for couples) and a cut in the maximum tax rate (to 35 percent from the current 45 percent).

[reaganaut1]

This "news story" belonged on the NYT editorial page.

Even if the estate tax directly affects only a "sliver" of taxpayers, other taxpayers may think an estate tax of 45% on savings that were already taxed when they were earned is just not fair.

Harry Reid talks as if all of our money is his, for which he could "find a better use".

Here is what Zero has said about the estate tax: http://usliberals.about.com/b/2006/06/10/senator-barack-obama-on-the-paris-hilton-tax-break.htm

"First of all, let's call this trillion-dollar giveaway what it is - the Paris Hilton Tax Break. It's about giving billions of dollars to billionaire heirs and heiresses at a time when American taxpayers just can't afford it.

The Republicans have brought out the Paris Hilton Tax Break in June because they're eager to make it an election issue in November.

And I think that's fine. In fact, I'm eager for the American people to choose. Because if people want their government to spend one trillion dollars - an amount more than double what we've spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror combined - on tax breaks for multimillionaires and multibillionaires, than the Republican Party is your party.

If the American people want to borrow billions more from the Chinese, spend billions more in taxes to pay the interest on our debt, and watch billions cut from health care and education and Gulf Coast Reconstruction, then the Paris Hilton Tax Break is your tax break. "

[DennisR]

The death tax needs to go. That is one of the tenets the “Push Back Until!” will be insisting that Congress abolishes forever. See http://pushbackuntil.com.

[grobdriver]

“Even in the best of times, there is no question that we could find a better use for an extra $100 billion.”

Harry, it isn't your money!!!

[Beowulf9]

People struggle all their lives, an inheritance is a way to enrich a family, but hey, lets give it away to somebody else.

[goodnesswins]

Most Dems don’t believe in “family.” They could care less.

[Wissa]

People struggle all their lives, an inheritance is a way to enrich a family, but hey, lets give it away to somebody else.

The insurance companies buy the votes of the people passing the laws. People wealthy enough for this to affect them have to take money out of productive alternatives and use it to buy insurance so their heirs can have the death taxes covered.

Warren Buffett LOVES the death tax.

[irv]

This "news story" belonged on the NYT editorial page.

ALL of the Times is editorial page. That's why I stopped buying it a couple decades ago.

[Lucky Dog]

And I think that's fine. In fact, I'm eager for the American people to choose. Because if people want their government to spend one trillion dollars - an amount more than double what we've spent on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror combined - on tax breaks for multimillionaires and multibillionaires, than the Republican Party is your party.

Not sure what you are saying here. Are you maintaining that the government is spending one trillion dollars on tax breaks simply because it doesn't collect taxes on an inheritance that, presumably, the accumulators thereof already paid taxes on as they made it?

Let's see, the government taxes it when you make it (income tax). They tax it while you invest for savings (capital gains tax). They tax it when you spend it (sales tax). They tax it when you try to give it away (gift tax). However, apparently, that isn't enough taxation for some.

[mware]

Studies show that the tax hits merely a sliver of wealthy American families. A proposal by President Obama would leave it at current levels, affecting only estates valued at more than $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples.

What idiots. When you take into account capital along with actual monies almost every farm that is a middle size one (75 acres or more) is worth way past 5 million.

I can only speak for blueberry farms but when the owner of that farm died. They had to sell some of the land to pay the estate tax.

Heck, just one blueberry picking machine runs a cool million.

[DJ Frisat]

""First of all, let's call this trillion-dollar giveaway what it is - the Paris Hilton Tax Break. It's about giving billions of dollars to billionaire heirs and heiresses at a time when American taxpayers just can't afford it."

What a pathetic piece of excrement this guy is. Obama, you clueless a-hole, the money isn't coming from the "American taxpayers."

It's NOT YOUR MONEY to either take away or redistribute. It rightfully belongs to the families of those who earned it, however they earned it. None of your damned business.