Reich's Death Tax* Lies
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*Oh, sorry, make that "Don't Call It a Death Tax" (the "lies" part is still wholly accurate):
On the one hand, liberals insist that the estate tax only affects a puny handful of households — a lie when you consider all those who structure their finances and estates to avoid the estate tax — they're "affected" by it too (if I move to Nevada to escape New York taxes, am I not "affected" by those oppressive New York taxes?).
On the other hand, they insist that the estate tax is a vital component of federal revenues. Another lie: the estate (and gift and transfer and generation-skipping) tax program only provides about 1-2% of federal revenues. And that number is inflated, since income tax revenues would increase if the estate tax were repealed. Some studies suggest that the federal government actually loses more income tax revenue than the estate tax revenue actually collects, because of the effect the estate tax has on people's behavior.
And let's not forget the huge costs of estate planning and compliance spawned by the estate tax. All that strategizing and paperwork is great if you're a lawyer, accountant, financial planner or IRS auditor, but not so great if you're an economist concerned with deadweight losses burdening the economy — which, clearly, Reich is not.
The estate tax has nothing whatsoever to do with sound, responsible or logical fiscal policy, and its apologists are not motivated by any legitimate economic reasoning. They are motivated by nothing more than rank Schadenfreude — "They're not us and we don't like them, so let's screw 'em just to make ourselves feel good." Just like the anti-gay bigots on the right, and just as deserving of contempt.
[Estate tax] repeal would cost the U.S. Treasury $1 trillion in its first ten years. That's about equivalent to what's needed to save Social Security over the next 75 years.I'm sure Reich is a big fan of Paul Krugman, so one would think he is familiar with the recurring phenomenon of "biased ultra-liberal economist + lies = fisking + humiliation" --
According to the Tax Policy Center, immediate repeal would cost about $300 billion from 2006 to 2015. That, however, appears to be an undiscounted number. The present value is probably around $250 billion.How can you not love the gobbledygook that liberals spew about the estate tax — only the conservative gobbledygook about gay marriage compares on the scale of utter nonsense and pathetic hypocrisy.
What does it cost to fill the Social Security shortfall over 75 years? This report from the Social Security Administration shows the present value of the 75-year shortfall for OASDI of about $5 trillion.
Hmmm....Those two numbers don't seem "about equivalent" to me. In fact, the second one seems 20 times as big as the first.
On the one hand, liberals insist that the estate tax only affects a puny handful of households — a lie when you consider all those who structure their finances and estates to avoid the estate tax — they're "affected" by it too (if I move to Nevada to escape New York taxes, am I not "affected" by those oppressive New York taxes?).
On the other hand, they insist that the estate tax is a vital component of federal revenues. Another lie: the estate (and gift and transfer and generation-skipping) tax program only provides about 1-2% of federal revenues. And that number is inflated, since income tax revenues would increase if the estate tax were repealed. Some studies suggest that the federal government actually loses more income tax revenue than the estate tax revenue actually collects, because of the effect the estate tax has on people's behavior.
And let's not forget the huge costs of estate planning and compliance spawned by the estate tax. All that strategizing and paperwork is great if you're a lawyer, accountant, financial planner or IRS auditor, but not so great if you're an economist concerned with deadweight losses burdening the economy — which, clearly, Reich is not.
The estate tax has nothing whatsoever to do with sound, responsible or logical fiscal policy, and its apologists are not motivated by any legitimate economic reasoning. They are motivated by nothing more than rank Schadenfreude — "They're not us and we don't like them, so let's screw 'em just to make ourselves feel good." Just like the anti-gay bigots on the right, and just as deserving of contempt.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Reich's Death Tax* Lies
- Estate Tax = Inheritance Tax = Bad Tax
- Raising Estate Taxes is a Good Thing...
Posted by Kip on
4 June 2006
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