🚀 go-pugleaf

In ca.general Steve Carter <sbrentcarter@uswest.net> wrote:

: "Merlin Dorfman" <dorfman@netcom17.netcom.com> wrote in message
: news:8otu90$lhe$9@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...

:>      Do you feel all estates should be exempt from all taxes?
:> Why?

: Yes, absolutely.  Never mind the double taxation and moral aspects of the
: tax.  If there were no extate taxes of any kind, frugal families could
: firmly extablish themselves among the financialy secure over just a few
: generations.  Small farming operations are also adversly affected,
: particulary when located close to expanding suburban areas.

     (1) Every dollar in the economy is taxed many times.  If I
earn a dollar, I pay taxes on it.  If I spend what is left at the
doctor or dentist or service station, the proprietor pays taxes
on it.  Any time money changes hands it is taxed--except when it
is inherited, then the first $1.2 million is exempt.  What's the
problem?
     (2a) The number of small farms and businesses affected by
inheritance taxes is very, very small.  (2b) Nevertheless, 
Clinton said he would not object to an exemption for ALL small
farms and businesses, but the Republicans thought that would 
kill their political issue (and/or not serve their purpose of
killing the estate tax on cash), so they refused.

:> If I earn a million bucks I sure pay taxes on it.  If my
:> dad leaves me a million, why is that different?

: The obvious difference is that one tax is an income tax and the other an
: estate tax.  Your father's million has already been taxed.  The logic behind
: your argument is that teh government has a prior claim to all wealth and
: that it is only by their good graces that we are allowed to keep anything.
: I reject this argument.  I think most Americans do.

     The government has a claim on what the law says it has a
claim on, nothing more.  There is a principle of taxation on the
basis of ability to pay, but that's not mandatory or in the
Constitution.  As I said, every dollar in the economy is taxed
every time it changes hands, with a few exceptions.  My employer
does NOT pay taxes on my salary because it is a business expense
--businesses are taxed on their profits (with some exceptions)
while individuals are taxed on their income.

:>
:> : Democrats love taxation, and that is why clnton / gore defeated this
: bill.
:>
:>      Clinton/Gore didn't defeat it.  Clinton vetoed it.  In case
:> you hadn't noticed, Bill Clinton isn't running for anything this
:> year.
:>      It's not that he loves taxation, it's that he hates unfair
:> taxation.

: Really? See above.  According to you keeping anything is unfair if the
: government wants it.

     I'm open to an argument that estate taxes are unfair.  I
haven't heard a good argument to that effect.  If I spend a 
dollar, the recipient is taxed.  If I leave it to my kids, why
shouldn't it also be taxed?
     I was expecting to hear the argument that the loopholes
are unfair, and I agree with that.  I would certainly go along
with a much reduced inheritance tax rate if the loopholes were
closed.

:> : Keep the lower classes from climbing out of the sandbox!  Tax them on
: everything
:> : while they are alive, and when they die, take 55%.
:>
:>      So you will explain why a tax on estates of over $1.2 million
:> keeps the lower classes from climbing out of the sandbox?  At what
:> point have you left the sandbox?  $2 million?  $5 million?  $10
:> million?  A billion?

: Again, what difference does it make?  It's not the government's money.  It
: has been taxed.  Are you the arbiture of how much is enough?  Let's pose the
: question as starkly as you have to Sen. Kennedy.  Mr. Kennedy, why didn't
: your family turn over your excess wealth after the death of your father?
: Aren't you aware of your societal obligation to financially level yourselves
: back down to the middle class and earn your own way?

     The  Kennedys were smart enough to use the legal loopholes
to protect the family assets from taxation.  They have all always
given all their government salaries to charity, and they give to
charities in addition to that.  The estate tax is not about
financial leveling, it is about taxing dollars that change hands,
as is done everywhere else in the economy.
     So the bottom line is--the estate tax is no more multiple
taxation than any other tax, and I'm not clear why it is more
"evil" than other taxes.