{"id":135505,"date":"2017-12-03T23:46:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T06:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135505"},"modified":"2017-12-04T07:16:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T14:16:44","slug":"whos-breathing-easy-end-estate-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/03\/whos-breathing-easy-end-estate-tax.html","title":{"rendered":"Who’s breathing easy at the end of the Estate Tax?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you earn a big chunk of money from working, you owe taxes on it. Similarly, if you get a really, really, really big chunk of money as an inheritance, you should owe taxes on it, too.<\/p>\n

That’s the basic principle of the estate tax. It’s not a “death tax.” It’s not a tax on someone who’s passed on. It’s a tax on the person who’s inheriting the wealth. And at $5.5M for an individual’s estate, or $11M for a couple (should they pass at the same time), the number of people impacted by the estate tax was trivial, and only among the most wealthy who could afford it.<\/p>\n

Seventy-two percent of estate tax payments come from the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers; 42 percent comes from the top 0.1 percent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not the sort of thing anyone but a handful of Americans have to worry about. Yet the the GOP has insisted, to the point of a sacred mantra, that the estate tax is bankrupting family farms (poor barely-scraping-by farmers, suddenly driven out of business by wicked Uncle Sam) and destroying family wealth.<\/p>\n

Nowhere is the cognitive dissonance (or, alternately, blatant lying) about the tax more clear than in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) recent comments:<\/p>\n

An estate tax effectively and unfairly taxes a person\u2019s earnings twice, he argued: first when they earn it and again when they die.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, Grassley was more than happy to rescind the federal tax exemption for state and local income tax, thus very distinctly “taxing a person’s earnings twice.”<\/p>\n

And, he added, it penalizes savers without touching spenders. \u201cI think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,\u201d Grassley said, \u201cas opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it\u2019s on booze or women or movies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right. If you aren’t saving enough to pass on a $5.5M estate, then clearly you’re just throwing it all away on “booze or women or movies.”<\/p>\n

That’s how the GOP politicians think. Or, alternately, what they want the American public (very, very few of whom will have an estate that large) to think.<\/p>\n

And that’s why tax bill they just passed essentially gets rid of the estate tax. Because the folk who are inheriting multi-million dollar estates need every single penny.<\/i><\/p>\n

Remember that in 2018.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nEstate taxes never threatened many Iowa farmers, but GOP slashes them anyway<\/a><\/span>
\nFor years, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley has argued the estate tax hurts Iowa family farmers. But only 65 farms in the whole country actually pay it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you earn a big chunk of money from working, you owe taxes on it. Similarly, if you get a really, really, really big chunk of money as an inheritance, you should owe taxes on it, too. That’s the basic principle of the estate tax. It’s not a “death tax.” It’s not a tax on … Continue reading “Who’s breathing easy at the end of the Estate Tax?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,374,358,376],"tags":[1339,125],"class_list":["post-135505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-money-politics","category-poor-citizenship","category-taxing-spending","tag-estatetax","tag-gop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135050,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/10\/eliminating-estate-tax-terrible-mistake.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":0},"title":"Eliminating the estate tax is a “terrible mistake”","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Oct-17 8:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"That's not some rabble-rousing radical on a soap box in Berkeley saying that. That's the investment banker who's in second place on Forbes' billionaire list (after Bill Gates). For all that the GOP has long tried to brand it as a \"death tax\" that affects everyday people, small business owners\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Warren-Buffett.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28910,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/13\/the-fiendishly-clever-romney-tax-plan.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":1},"title":"The Fiendishly Clever Romney Tax Plan","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Aug-12 8:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"Is fiendishly clever because, aside from some platitudinous generalities, Romney refuses to discuss it. \u00a0\"Cut social programs,\" but not which ones. \"Close tax loopholes,\" but not which ones. \"Reduce taxes,\" but not which ones or by how much. So analysts are forced into guesswork -- and even there, the results\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18719,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/27\/ben-stein-is-a-dolt.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":2},"title":"Ben Stein is a Dolt","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Sep-10 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe I need to create a new \"Dolts\" category for the blog. It's a word I'm using a lot these days. Latest-greatest is about Ben Stein, who you may remember as the ultra-boring teacher in Ferris Beuller's Day Off, or the ultra-boring guy on the Visene commercials, or perhaps the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/economy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/MarginalIncomeTax.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7257,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/04\/14\/thoughts_on_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":3},"title":"Thoughts on the Estate Tax debate","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Apr-05 11:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"In no particular order: I hate \"class warfare\" rhetoric. Not only is it almost as damaging to the social fabric as, well, class warfare itself, but it quickly descends to...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135259,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/02\/gop-house-unveils-tax-cut-plan-will-cost-1-5-trillion-dollars.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":4},"title":"GOP House unveils a tax cut plan that will cost $1.5 trillion dollars","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 2-Nov-17 9:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"While some of the scarier bits that had been floated as ideas have gone away, there, still plenty of goofiness in this plan, which largely benefits the most wealthy, because that's what they paid for with the GOP. It's worth noting that none of this is final -- further GOP\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/paul-ryan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30196,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/10\/romneys-tax-plan-trust-me.html","url_meta":{"origin":135505,"position":5},"title":"Romney's tax plan: "Trust me!"","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Sep-12 8:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it that he's just sure that, on principle, he can net-net cut taxes for everyone, or that he just doesn't know what sort of cuts and deduction changes he will propose, or that he's afraid if he gets specific then people will get angry with him?'Mr. Romney\u2019s tax proposal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135509,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135505\/revisions\/135509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}