🚀 go-pugleaf

In ca.general Tracey-Levin <tracey12@hotbot.com> wrote:


: Merlin Dorfman wrote:

:>
:>      Do you feel all estates should be exempt from all taxes?
:> Why?  If I earn a million bucks I sure pay taxes on it.  If my
:> dad leaves me a million, why is that different?
:>
:> : Democrats love taxation, and that is why clnton / gore defeated this bill.

: Merlin, if your dads estate is taxed, it is not the same as an income tax that you
: would pay on earnings.  Its his estate that he's already paid taxes on, and now even
: though hes followed all the rules and has put away money from each paycheck which hes
: paid taxes on, the lousy, evil men of the federal government want to steal 55% of what
: hes leaving behind to his children before they even get one penny.

     It's his estate, and as long as he keeps it the taxes have
 been paid and no more is due.  If the assets move to somebody
else, it is subject to tax--whether he spends it, or leaves it
as an inheritance, the person who receives it is subject to
being taxed on it.  In fact there is a very large exemption on
this transfer ($1.2 million for the joint estate of a married
couple), whereas money that is spent is taxable from the first 
dollar.
     So, again, why is the estate tax more evil than other taxes?

: Is this the kind of "fairness" and "equality" you Democrats support?

: Would you want the feds stealing 55% of your house, farm, or funds that you've left
: for your kids????

: Just think of the many families being kicked off their farms because the kids cannot
: come up with the money to pay the evil government 55%  of the value of land they've
: had in the family for generations. 

     (1) Very few--very, very few--family farms and businesses
are subject to this tax.  (2) Clinton offered to exempt all
of them, but the Republicans refused.  (3) There are many tax
dodges available to exempt ALL family farms and businesses from
estate tax; only those too ignorant to use them are hit with 
this tax.


:  How much land does the government already own?

     This is not a land seizure mechanism.  The government does
not wind up owning the  land.  99.9% of the time the family sells
it, pays the tax, and uses the remaining cash for other purposes,
maybe buying a smaller farm or business.  If the family does not
do that, the govt. auctions the  land, takes the tax, and returns
the remaining cash to the family.  In no instance does the govt.
wind up owning the land.