Alec Jacobs, Staff Writer
Ideology: Conservative | Writing From: New Jersey
Yesterday, in yet another disappointment from the Democrat-dominated 111th Congress, the House voted not only to cancel a one-year repeal of the death tax (or, as they call it, the “estate tax”), but also to permanently extend it. Americans can now expect to pay a top rate of 45 percent on estates larger than $3.5 million.
Unless, of course, the Americans in question are members of the Kennedy clan. A proponent of the estate tax, Sen. Edward Kennedy paid a measly $134,330.90 in taxes on the inheritance left him by his father, estimated to be anywhere from $300 million to $500 million. Assuming the smaller number is correct, Kennedy paid only 0.4% of his inheritance to the IRS.
The estate tax was supposed to expire on its own in 2010, but there go the Democrats with that “change” mantra again! As countless pundits have said, not all change is good change. This is a prime example. As if Democrats don’t take enough of our money away while we’re alive, they now want to take away the valued estates of our deceased friends and family members.
People should be able to do whatever they want with their hard-earned wealth upon their deaths. Whether that means giving the money to a charitable organization, leaving it to a family member, or burning it, the government has no right deciding what to do with that money. Of course, the government has no right doing half the things it does, but this is one area where it’s a matter of respect for the wishes of the dead. Next, they’ll be requiring pre-approved eulogies, deciding which kind of coffin we’re buried in, and who is invited to our funerals.
The money left to heirs is one of the top sources of funding for entrepreneurs. Keeping the estate tax will be detrimental not only to those losing the money of their deceased relatives, but also to the American economy as a whole. The last thing we need in our current economic climate is to be (1) raising taxes or keeping them high and (2) discouraging entrepreneurship and the creation of new business and new employment. The estate tax “succeeds” in doing both of these things.
For more information on the economics of the estate tax, see this Tax Foundation study. For more information on the irresponsibility and blatant disregard for the general well being of the American people of the Democratic Congress, check out C-SPAN.