Free Republic

Estate Tax Takes Shape In Campaign Talk By ARDEN DALE A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN NEW YORK -- Estate-tax talk on the campaign trail is helping resolve a very thorny tax problem for the rich. Making a plan to shield an estate from the federal death tax has been tricky for financial planners since the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 phased in a series of changes over the past few years. The future seems clearer now, though, as Senators Barack Obama and John McCain outline their plans for the tax. A new study by the Tax...

The citizens of Pittsburgh are getting an unpleasant lesson in the consequences of punitive taxation, courtesy of their beloved NFL franchise. Inside the Pittsburgh Steeler boardroom, a fraternal squabble is under way over future ownership—thanks in part to a sacking from the realities of estate and capital gains taxes. One of the league's iconic teams, the Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family since 1933. The five sons of the original owner, Art Rooney, control 80%—and they are getting into their 70s. With the team's value estimated at $700 million or more, the 45% federal death tax rate could...

It's becoming increasingly clear that the Rooney family is selling the Pittsburgh Steelers to avoid having to pay the death tax.

One current permathread on Big Orange is that Krugman and Obama are feuding or having a vendetta. Which, when you take a step back, is bizarre. That movement conservatives and Villagers like stone Bush enabler William Kristol, like David Brooks, Broderella, and Andrew Sullivan are all good with Obama isn’t even mentioned in passing by Obama’s fan base. And yet those same enthusiasts spend inordinate amounts of time vilifying Paul Krugman, a true progressive who was there for us from the earliest dark days of the Bush regime. Curious. What’s really happening? Krugman doesn’t have a problem with Obama; Krugman...

Death and Whoopi's Taxes December 10, 2007; Page A18 We don't normally look to Tinsel Town liberals for insights on U.S. tax policy, but Whoopi Goldberg's comments on the estate tax last week deserve more attention. During a discussion of Republican Presidential candidates on ABC's "The View," which the comedian co-hosts, Ms. Goldberg said, "I'd like somebody to get rid of the death tax. That's what I want. I don't want to get taxed just because I died." The studio audience started applauding, but she wasn't done. "I just don't think it's right," she continued. "If I give something to...

Hi, my name is Annabelle, and I'm a taxaholic. It's hard for me to admit this, but I think it's time to own up: I'm powerless over the idea that taxes are not a bad way to fund programs that might do some good for our country. My addiction has really gotten the better of me now that Bush has vetoed Congress's main social spending bill, which was to fund admittedly unworthy social endeavors like cancer research, mine safety, job training and Head Start. I'm sure you've all heard this tale over and over again. My problem started at parties...

McLean, VA - Senator Fred Thompson announced today that Jack Faris, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, will be the National Chairman of "Small Business Leaders for Fred Thompson." "I am excited to be supporting Senator Thompson, an old friend and fellow Tennessean, because he understands the role that small businesses play in our economy. Senator Thompson's record in the U.S. Senate speaks for itself, long a supporter of lower taxes, which allow Americans to invest more in our economy, and a strong advocate for increased access and flexibility in health care and...

As part of a campaign stop planned for Iowa last week, Rudy Giuliani's Des Moines office called Deb and Jerry VonSprecken to see if they'd host an event at their farm. They agreed. After several days of planning and a security check, though, Deb was told to call Giuliani's New York office: "They wanted to know our assets," she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle. Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location. "Tony said, 'I'm sorry, you aren't worth a million dollars and he...

Millions of entrepreneurs, teachers and parents with children in college have a financial stake in whether Congress, in the dying hours of Republican rule, revives tax breaks that expired 11 months ago...Residents of Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming - each without an income tax - will miss out on an average $1,500 deduction for state and local sales taxes...Before the election, Republicans tried unsuccessfully to link the tax cuts to a bill that would reduce the estate tax, which most Democrats find unacceptable, and raise the federal minimum wage, which many Republicans dislike.

The Times-Reporter and three other Copley Ohio newspapers will be sold by The Copley Press as a reaction to contractions in the newspaper business and debt resulting from the taxes on the estate of Helen K. Copley, who died in 2004. The other daily papers in Copley Ohio are The Independent in Massillon and The Repository in Canton. Copley Ohio includes one weekly paper, The Suburbanite in Green. Copley’s four Illinois daily newspapers, in Springfield, Peoria, Lincoln and Galesburg, are also subject to sale, though a Copley spokesman said the Ohio and Illinois papers also could be part of “possible...

The Republican National Committee provided the money for a television advertisement running in Tennessee that Some say plays to racist fears. Jennifer Peebles, the political editor at the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, speaks with Susan Stamberg about the ad. All Things Considered, October 25, 2006 · The election is less than two weeks away in a year when control of the House and Senate is at stake. One campaign tool that gets rolled out every election year at this time is the shocking campaign ad, and this year is no different. Just when you think you've seen it all, political...

This summer, the Senate fell short of the super-majority needed to bring to a vote a measure permanently repealing the estate tax. This means the current reduced-rate estate tax will revert to the full pre-2001 rates of up to 55 percent by 2011 unless other action is taken. The Senate's lack of action prompted the House to pass the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act (H.R. 5970), which would extend estate tax relief beyond 2010, but would not eliminate the tax. This is unfortunate. The evidence shows that the estate tax does little to redistribute wealth and may...

NCPA Report Shows Inheritances have little effect on Wealth Inequality As Congress continues debate over reduction and possible elimination of the estate tax, a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) undermines the chief argument made by proponents of the tax - that estate taxation prevents the concentration of wealth in the hands of financial dynasties. The report shows that the contribution of inheritances to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. is surprisingly small. "It is commonly assumed that wealthy people inherit much of their wealth," said Jagadeesh Gokhale, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute...

One of Tony Blair's closest political allies has issued an explosive demand for the Government to scrap inheritance tax. Stephen Byers, the former transport secretary and a leading Blairite "outrider", claims that the tax, which brought in a total of £3.3 billion last year, is "a penalty on hard work, thrift and enterprise". Writing in The Sunday Telegraph today, he brands it a "tax on death" and calls for it to be abolished. His remarks will be seen as the political equivalent of lobbing a grenade under the door of Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who jealously guards all areas of...

It can be universally agreed upon that those who create wealth are more crucial to a countries economy than those who inherit wealth. It follows that we should substitute as much of the federal income tax possible with taxes taken from inheritance. Like Ben Franklin said, nothing should be certain except for death, taxes and the death tax

  From the Desk of Mark Stephens, Executive Director, NRSCDo you have your wallet handy? Well, you better . . . . . . Let me tell you why.The LCLI (Liberal Cost of Living Increase)Anytime liberal Democrats take the reins of government, the American people must pull out their wallets and pay a price. It's the automatic Liberal Cost of Living Increase - the LCLI. You see it happen at the local level, state level and at the federal level.Americans are feeling the squeeze of rising energy prices and escalating health care costs - but the LCLI will dwarf...

Despite the fact that the minimum wage bill that didn't pass the cloture vote was due to the fact that it was tied directly to a massive rollback of the estate tax and $38 billion in other tax breaks, we are going to get a barrage of the "democrats are filibustering the minimum wage hike" nonsense. With all of that, it is painfully obvious that any increase in the minimum wage should be a stand alone bill as opposed to part of something that would be as Senator Durbin said "the worst special-interest bill I have seen in my time...

Title should be "DEMOCRATS REJECT MINIMUM WAGE -Abandon Care of the Poor"

Democratic senators blocked their own goal on Thursday of raising the U.S. minimum wage for the first time since 1997 after Republicans added a huge tax break for the rich to the legislation, actions sure to reverberate in this election year. On a 56-42 vote, the Republican-led Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to clear the way for final congressional passage of the minimum wage increase and a big cut in inheritance taxes for wealthy Americans. The hard-fought battle was a defeat for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a possible 2008 Republican presidential candidate, who crafted...

Around 2 A.M. on Saturday the House of Representatives passed the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act. The bill represents the latest compromise (sell-out, really) in a fight that until a couple of months ago was supposed to be about repealing the federal death tax completely and permanently. Now we’ve got a House bill that keeps the tax permanently on the books — with the estate-planning headache of a staggered phase-in — and hikes the federal mandated minimum wage by over 40 percent. How did things go so wrong?

I.R.S. to Cut Tax AuditorsBy DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Published: July 23, 2006 The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others. The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an I.R.S. deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The...

I noted with interest the letter to the editor from Mr. Ed Outlaw with his concerns for the Fair Tax plan. I have promoted the Fair Tax for several years now, and I have rarely come across anyone that was such a proponent of the present tax system. The Income Tax is out of control, inefficient, and penalizes U.S. business and manufacturing competing within an escalating global economy. The Fair Tax is a simple alternative method to fund the Federal Government that is fair, simple, and visible. As a by-product, it just happens to solve some very serious economic problems...

Now that Congress has returned from its Independence Day recess, Republican senators will try again to declare America permanently independent of the death tax. A June 8 bid to scrap this levy fell three votes short, when Democrats (and Republican renegades Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Ohio’s George Voinovich) filibustered. If abolitionists can secure three more votes than the 57 they mustered (opposite 41 opponents), a majority of senators would kill this odious tax for good.

According to sources familiar with the prep sessions with Paulson, the former Wall Street executive and well-known supporter of and financial contributor to Democrats could not get in line with the Bush administration's support for ending the estate or "death" tax, and permanent extension of the capital gains tax and other tax cuts that are due to expire in the next three years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire Warren Buffett on Monday called for U.S. lawmakers to retain the estate tax, after announcing plans to leave more than $37 billion of his own fortune to charity, not his children. Buffett spoke after agreeing to sign over roughly $30.7 billion of his $44 billion fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, run by the Microsoft Corp. chairman and his wife, and another $6.4 billion to foundations on behalf of his late wife Susan and his children. "I would hate to see the estate tax gutted," Buffett said at a Manhattan news conference with...

Mr.Buffett. As an avowed supporter of the estate tax, Mr. Buffett could have let the government take its share of his estate after he dies. But just as Mr. Buffett has accumulated his vast wealth without paying much personal income tax, he has found a way to avoid the tax man in this maneuver as well, even writing in his letter to Bill and Melinda Gates that a condition of the gift is that the foundation “must continue to satisfy legal requirements qualifying my gifts as charitable and not subject to gift or other taxes.” On the estate tax, watch...

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to cut taxes on inherited estates and relieve thousands of heirs from paying tax collectors beginning next decade. The 269-156 vote, just a few months before an election with control of Congress at stake, saw majority Republicans temporarily setting aside their ambition to abolish the tax. Instead, they voted to exempt from taxation individual estates up to $5 million and couple's estates up to $10 million, while also blunting the impact on even richer families. The compromise measure now goes to the Senate. The White House called the bill "a step in the right...

Two weeks ago, the Senate killed an effort to repeal the federal estate tax on multimillion-dollar fortunes. The "no" votes were a stand for budget sanity and basic fairness. But the pro-repeal camp doesn't want to take no for an answer. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed an estate-tax cut that is a repeal in everything but name. The so-called compromise would exempt more than 99.5 percent of estates from tax, slash the tax rates on the rest and cost at least $760 billion during its first full decade. Of that, $600 billion is the amount the government would have...

WASHINGTON - The House's top tax writer revealed a proposal Monday to reduce taxes on inherited estates and rewrite a quirky law that repeals the tax for only one year. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., introduced the bill after Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee asked House GOP leaders for help reducing the estate tax before this fall's midterm elections. Frist lost a bid this month to push forward legislation repealing the tax, unable to overcome opposition from most Democrats and a pair of Republicans. Under President Bush's first tax cut, the estate tax decreases...

WEEK AND A half ago, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas took to the Senate floor to decry the estate tax as unfair. "I, for one, intend to fight for these family businesses, fight for these communities and fight for these jobs in rural America," she preached. It was all very moving. Especially if you stand to inherit an enormous fortune. That same day, Lincoln again appeared on the Senate floor, this time to decry the lack of funding for federal anti-hunger programs. This too was unfair. Lincoln was particularly nonplused by the counter-argument that there was insufficient money for...

Hint: Not the American people! Recent legislative actions in Washington, D.C., raise the question of just who the U.S. Senate is working for. It obviously is not the American people who voted the Senators into office. A bill to permanently repeal the Death Tax was voted down 57-41 in a motion to invoke cloture. Sixty votes were needed to let the bill advance. There are enough Senators, 57, in favor of repealing the Death Tax. A minority of Senators, 41, were able to block the legislation from proceeding to a vote. The Death Tax penalizes people who are hardworking and...

The Senate yesterday blocked an effort to eliminate taxes on inherited estates, leaving the fate of the politically charged issue in doubt. On a 57-41 vote, backers fell three votes short of the 60 needed to clear a procedural hurdle to a vote on the estate-tax repeal itself. That moved the issue to a back burner and maybe killed it for the year.

One of the goals of the far left in America is "income redistribution." That is taking money from the wealthy and giving it to the less well off in the form of entitlements or sometimes direct payments like welfare and food stamps. The problem with that philosophy is that there are relatively few wealthy Americans, less than 10 million of us make more than $100,000 a year, while about 30 million citizens live below the poverty line. Thus, the tax burden on the wealthy has to be enormous in order to effectively "redistribute" income. And one of the primary ways...

IT HAS now become less politically risky for Democrats to accept gay marriage than to support taxing the richest 1 percent of Americans. And that reality speaks volumes about the Democratic dilemma. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans offered a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage that they knew had no chance of passage. Their purpose was simple and cynical: Rally the faltering Republican hard-core base, and force a vote that they hoped would embarrass Democrats. The constitutional measure, which required 67 votes to pass, got only 49. Just one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, supported it. Seven Republicans, including all five New...

So the estate tax cut went down in the Senate, to the cheers of class warriors everywhere. Congratulations to Democratic senators Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Ron Wyden, and Mark Pryor -- all of whom voted against death-tax repeal after voting in favor of it a few years ago. At last, they’ve come to their senses! Our rich people don’t need another tax break. No, they need higher taxes. And they should be vilified, too. That’s right: America should attack rich people. In fact, we must abolish wealth, which is a tremendous drag on our economy. It’s high time that we...

This was one of the more politically significant weeks in recent history. A recap of the winners and losers: Click here

Senate Democrats managed to keep the death tax on life support yesterday, prevailing on a vote to break a filibuster by 57-41. The only two Republicans to oppose repeal were George Voinovich of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who sometimes seems to want to lose his primary this year. But special credit belongs to four Democratic Senators who voted against repeal yesterday after they'd run for office pledging the opposite. They are Evan Bayh of Indiana, who perhaps had in mind Democratic Presidential primary voters, not the home folks who elected him; Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; Mark Pryor...

Senators voted Thursday to reject a Republican effort to abolish taxes on inherited estates during an election year with control of Congress at stake. GOP leaders had pushed senators to permanently eliminate the estate tax, which disappears in 2010 under President Bush's first tax cut, but rears up again a year later. A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will vote again this year on a tax that opponents call the "death tax." "Getting rid of the death tax is just too important an issue to give...

Taxes Everlasting Why the superrich don't mind the death tax. Thursday, June 8, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT If you've followed the death tax debate, you know that few issues raise liberal blood pressure more. Liberal journalists in particular are around the bend: How in the world can the public support repealing a tax that most Americans will never pay? Good question, so let us try to answer. snip The superrich or their kin--such as Bill Gates Sr. and Warren Buffett--are some of the loudest voices opposing repeal. Yet they are able to shelter their own vast wealth by creating foundations...

A society always gets more of whatever it subsidizes, whether it's corn, tobacco or the idle rich. And subsidizing spoiled heiresses at the expense of, well, everyone else is the goal of those members of Congress who are pushing to greatly reduce, or even repeal, the federal estate tax. Despite reams of data that show that the estate tax only touches the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers, and despite the fact that the Mom and Pop businesses and family farms of the sort that earn our sympathy simply are not affected by this tax, the repeal has already passed...

It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. There is no possible excuse for doing what Congress is poised to do this week: Abolish the estate tax. The federal government faces a future of expanding deficits. Thanks to the baby bust and medical inflation, spending is projected to rise by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, a growth equivalent to the doubling of today's Medicare program. What is the dumbest possible response to this? Take a source of revenue and abolish it outright. -snip- People often remark on the perversity of popular support...

A decade-long drive to permanently repeal the estate tax is about to come to a head, but proponents are finding it surprisingly difficult to get their political football into the end zone. The repeal proposal may be an indirect casualty of Hurricane Katrina, which forced Senate leaders to postpone a vote on the plan in September, when hopes it would pass were high. Now, with the Senate poised to vote as early as this week, even some of the most ardent supporters of estate tax repeal predict they will come up short. Some of them are pushing an alternative that...

The talk of a Republican apocalypse this fall is likely premature, but very well earned. A White House that can't seem to communicate its way out of a paper bag surely can't lead. A Senate which forgets it was elected to cut spending, reduce waste and change Washington should expect to be sent home. This is just reality. But there's more to this story than meets most eyes. There's also a real chance for redemption. Republicans in 2004 won an historic victory, on the wave of an overwhelming coalition of fiscal, defense and social conservatives representing a large majority of...

Life's only certainties are death and taxes. Unfortunately, the government won't even let someone die without taxing them. The current death tax rate is almost 50 percent. That means within nine months of death, Uncle Sam gets 47 percent of the value of everything you own — including cars, furniture, personal belongings, homes, investments, pension plans, 401(k)s and even your business, if you own one. The death tax hurts the economy by devastating family businesses such as farms and construction companies. Since most people don't have cash to pay a huge estate tax bill, families are often forced to sell...

Eighteen of America's wealthiest families, including the Timkens of Canton, are bankrolling efforts to permanently repeal estate taxes that would save their families a total of $71.6 billion, according to a report released Tuesday by public interest groups. Groups funded by the super-rich have engaged in a deceptive campaign to convince the public that estate taxes cause widespread problems for small businesses and family farms when they actually affect about one in 370 estates, said the report released by Public Citizen and Boston-based United for a Fair Economy. This year, all assets under $2 million for individuals and under $4...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to repeal the federal estate tax has been aggressively led by 18 super-wealthy families, according to a report released today by Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy at a press conference in Washington, D.C. The report details for the first time the vast money, influence and deceptive marketing techniques behind the rhetoric in the campaign to repeal the tax. It reveals how 18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall...

  For Immediate ReleaseApril 15, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: Jobs and Economy      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Monday is Tax Day, and that means many of you are busy finishing up your tax returns. The good news is that this year Americans will once again keep more of their hard-earned dollars because of the tax cuts we passed in 2001 and 2003. An important debate is taking place in Washington over whether to keep these tax cuts in place or to raise your taxes. For the sake of American workers and their families, and for our...

Rep. Jim Marshall votes lockstep with liberals on the Death Tax(Warner Robins, GA) Congressman Mac Collins (Ret. R-GA) has reiterated his call for the permanent repeal of the Death Tax. Collins voted for the repeal of this oppressive tax multiple times during his 12 years as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Collins opponent Democrat Jim Marshall, who has voted three times against repealing the Death Tax, has demonstrated his true partisan nature by voting with the Democrats in Congress rather then the people he represents. Marshall voted in lockstep with his party leader Nancy Pelosi on...

BackgroundWhy do I care about Dynamic Scoring? If you pay taxes and care about long term economic growth, you should become familiar with the concept of Dynamic Scoring. Today, Congress projects funding increases from a tax rate change without regard to impacts on incentives and economic behavior. The costs associated with lost incentives can be 17% of lifetime consumption as will be seen in the social security case study. The process of static scoring opaquely measures the impact of tax rate changes. While Static versus Dynamic Scoring may sound arcane at first, they boil down to accurately and transparently measuring...

It's an odd phenomenon. Before Memorial Day in May, the Senate Republican leadership plans to have a go at repealing or minimizing the estate tax - the "death tax," as they like to call it. Yet economist after economist note that the only families likely to benefit are billionaires and multimillionaires, and that both income and wealth in the United States are increasingly being concentrated at the top. Some warn that by its actions, Washington is contributing to an economic climate that is leading to less tolerance, greater xenophobia, and more inequality in political representation. The richest 1 percent of...