Posted on 11/21/2009 9:27:35 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
HOW do you tell a wealthy heiress from a family farmer? It sounds like the setup for a joke. But in fact it is the fundamental problem underlying sensible reform of the federal estate tax.
Members of Congress are hoping to revise the current law on the estate tax by the end of this year; if they don’t, the estate tax will disappear for a year. Lawmakers should use the opportunity to solve the farmer/heiress riddle once and for all and move our tax system closer to the values on which the country was founded — that hard work should be rewarded and power should not be conferred by birth.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Democrats, argue that we should return to lower exemptions and higher rates so that the wealthy can contribute much-needed dollars to the nation’s recovery.
Video: A Tax Day moment with Teddy Kennedy By Michelle Malkin • April 15, 2008 09:24 AM
The Merchandise Mart, the Chicago-based real estate conglomerate Joseph Kennedy established in '35, was the most valuable asset belonging to Ted Kennedy and his family. In 1974 Joseph Kennedy divided Merchandise Mart's ownership among numerous family members, including Ted, in the form of a trust that was domiciled in the Pacific island of Fiji. Because the trust was based in Fiji, it was not subject to the taxes normally imposed on trusts domiciled in the United States.
Front Page Magazine, Wednesday, April 26, 2006,Do As I Say.... By: Peter Schweizer
Here’s a radical notion: how about making one tax law that is fair and treats everyone equally without “trying to get even with the rich”?
Zero is a fair amount.
True - the children of millionaires didn’t do anything to earn it, but neither did the government.
The rich don't pay taxes, they have "charitable" foundations with which to shelter their expenses.
And they already paid tax on that money and should be able to do whatever they want with it, even if they’re dead.
Income taxes, without variation, always are disproportionately paid by the middle and upper-middle income brackets.
The super-rich find ways around it, and the poor don’t have it to begin with.
Sounds great. Only problem is, it’s the middles and upper-middles who employ 3/4 of the people out there.
Answer? 10% VAT, no income tax, no estate tax, no other tax whatsoever.
And government has to spend the equivalent of 10% of our consumer output, or less. If their budget doesn’t reflect it, then there’s a nationwide referendum on whether to lower spending, or raise the VAT.
PS. VAT = Value Added Tax (sales tax).
Au contraire
..children are often "a part of the whole" wheel in working the "farm". Many small companies/ small business are made up of "family" who are dedicated and work together for decades successfully.
Government has become the "Boogie Man" in the night you were told about as a child, which had you checking under the bed!
But officer, you can see it was accident. Mommy and daddy accidentally slipped and fell upon the same hunting knife...four times.
Al Gore: Except for wealthiest, exempt people from estate tax
GORE [to Bush]: Under the plan that I’ve proposed, 80 percent of all family farms will be completely exempt from the estate tax, and the vast majority of all family businesses would be completely exempt, and all of the others would have sharply reduced. The problem with completely eliminating it goes back to the wealthiest 1 percent. The amount of money that has to be raised in taxes from middle class families would be a heavy burden.
BUSH: Eliminate the death tax completely because people shouldn’t be taxed twice on their assets. It’s either unfair for some or unfair for all. I think if you’ve got tax relief, everybody benefits.
Define "rich". Regardless, Carl Levin has a plan:
"Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. An “additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000” a year, could fund more troops, Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend."
Example: Theresa Heinz Kerry in 2003 reported over 5,000,000 in income and yet she only paid 587.000 in federal tax.
An article on the virtue of hard work by a fellow named Madoff???
And you say this based on your personal experience with great wealth?
Or on your envy?
Nah. The real reason is that they don't have taxable income.
A little old lady in Miami that owns her home outright, and gets 3% on $1,000,000 in the bank is rich but has an income of just $30,000/year.
Or the kid that inherited $2,000,000 in tax exempt municipal bonds at 4% gets $80,000/year to play with.
We don't tax the rich. We tax those with taxable income.
This statement is not supported by the facts.
In 2007 the top 1% of earners paid over 40% of all Federal income tax. The top 5% of earners paid over 60%. In fact, income taxes are always diproportionately paid by the highest earners; and the disproportionality has been steadily increasing.
Anyone richer than myself...!
No it's based upon published research re the regulatory influence racket it funds.
So she paid $587,000.
You made an unqualified statement, "The rich don't pay taxes." I'm going to guess Teresa Heinz paid more of the government's bills in 2003 than you.
This will be a moot point as soon as Obama takes over ownership of all farms and estates.
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