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Posted on 06/14/2002 6:37:00 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
Hillary's Hooey -- Anti-Wealth Rant Is Disingenuous
2002-06-14
CREDIT Hillary Rodham Clinton.
To stand on the floor of the United States Senate and deliver an anti-capitalistic rant worthy of Fidel Castro -- as New York's junior senator did in arguing against permanent repeal of the federal estate or "death" tax -- well, that takes some guts.
Unfortunately, Clinton and her allies prevailed when the Senate voted 54-44 for permanent repeal, a majority but not the 60 votes needed to prevail under the rules.
Oklahoma's Don Nickles, R- Ponca City, and Jim Inhofe, R- Tulsa, both voted for the bill, as did nine Democrats and 43 other Republicans. But it failed, thanks to the kind of argument offered by Clinton.
Quoting from the Wall Street Journal -- though not from the paper's distinguished, conservative editorial pages -- Hillary basically said prosperous Americans are luckier than other folks and owe it to Uncle Sam to have their estates taxed at 55 percent when they die.
Last summer Congress passed President Bush's $1.35 billion tax cut, which included slowly phasing out the death tax by 2010. To get around Senate rules that would've required 60 votes to pass the package, Republicans agreed to sunset its provisions in 2011. That means the death tax will return the year after it is finally repealed, unless Congress follows up.
The House of Representatives did so with a bipartisan vote last week to make the repeal permanent. Then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., surprised nearly everyone by bringing it to a vote Wednesday.
Hillary was ready, armed with some of the anti-wealth, anti-prosperity blather so popular in the 1960s, her life's formative decade, but which apparently has so little personal application -- as evidenced by the killing she made in cattle futures.
"There is not a place better devised in the entire history of the world to be successful, to become rich," Hillary said. "And the rich, God bless all of us, they actually take more advantage of our system than anybody else. They are really lucky, fortunate, blessed to be in this country."
She continued, decrying the accumulation of wealth and harping on class warfare themes to which aging members of the flower-power generation still cling: "The truth is, we do not have a death tax in America. There is no such thing as a death tax. People do not pay taxes at death. We have an estate tax, which is really a wealth tax that is based on people having a certain level of assets."
Many Americans beg to differ. They're successful farmers, ranchers and small-business men and women who earned every single dime but weren't rich enough to hire lawyers and accountants to set up foundations and other means to protect their life's work from the taxman.
They're parents who sold the family business so their children wouldn't have to pay more than half its value in taxes -- or worse, so their kids wouldn't have to close the enterprise just to pay for the government's take.
Hillary may not blush as she yearns for the redistribution of hard-earned wealth, but she's wrong. The estate tax is payable upon a loved one's death, and it is fundamentally unfair -- points made by Nickles immediately after Clinton sat down.
"I am embarrassed for my colleagues to say they believe in free enterprise but free enterprise up to an estate of $3 million, and above that the federal government gets half, that the federal government should confiscate half the property because somebody passes away," Nickles said.
"Somebody said, what about the Rockefellers? They do not pay the taxes. They set up foundations. That is what Mr. Gates is doing. That is what the very wealthy people do. They do not pay this tax. The people who pay it are the people who have the farm, the ranch, the small business and somebody dies unexpectedly -- I know because it happened to my dad -- and government comes in and says we want half."
We commend Nickles and others who are fighting for fairness and families in the death tax debate. The creation of wealth shouldn't be held in contempt. Rather, it's at the heart of the American dream.
It's a dream that has been realized by Hillary and other members of the rich person's club that is the U.S. Senate, but not one they want to share with other Americans.
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Note: Normally I don't put editorials on the Front Page but this one needs to be there to show the absolute disregard ms. clinton and mr. daschle hold for the American people!
First this should be a major campaign issue in the Fall elections.
Second, if anyone on this ping list wants to help with a Countdown type Thread to the Fall elections to spotlight Senate and House candidates in tight races, please Freep Mail me. It would be great to get someone from the States these tight races are in to get some inside information.
Third -- Please donate to FR if you have not done so already so we can continue to take the battle to the DemocRATS in TAKING BACK THE SENATE and KEEPING THE HOUSE! -- FR helped get President Bush in the White House in the 2000 election but there are still a lot of battles to be fought!
Thanks
Hmmm. Makes you wonder if J. Jeffords will want to come back into the fold if we do win the Senate in a huge way?
Hell, give 'em McCane too. The rat b**tard is a stain on the blue dress of the Republican Party.
Oh hell no! We're better off without him. Never know when you'll get stabbed in the back again. We need people we can depend on.
The b*tch bragged that she had the non profit she set up pay the taxes!
LOL, can we refuse to take him on our team? We'll play short-handed instead. ;^)
The main difference between these two votes is that "Little Miss Mary" is up for reelection in November and Dashle Lap Dog John has two years before he must face the voters.
DISGUSTING POLITICAL COVER
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