OK, today is tax day (submitted your return yet? No? Hurry!).
Seems like a good time to revisit something I mentioned in my post of over a year ago re: the so-called Death Tax.
I guess it’s getting close to passage, as this Business Week article notes.
My position on this has not changed. As one who will probably never have to worry about this (the current Death Tax affects only 2% of estates; I don’t think I’ll die in that rarefied air…), I’m probably a good spokesperson.
Why?
Because elimination/reduction/tightening of this law will affect me adversely: Since the dead billionaires are taxed more lightly, I (and the other 98%) will have to either suffer loss of government services or personally have to pony up more tax dollars to keep the status quo.
I still think the Death Tax sucks. You’re being punished for dying. And for having been successful while alive.
Wow. Double whammy. Actually a triple whammy – whatever you leave, you’ve been taxed on before. (Income, property and so on.)
Some liberal types think scaling back the Death Tax sucks, but I don’t, and I’m more liberal than the average bear.
Did the rich bastards get the dough illegally? Prosecute the mofos while they’re alive; don’t tax the dude in the coffin.
Is this rich bastard issue really an issue? We’re talking 2% of the population (currently; the new laws would trim that percentage). Doesn’t seem to be an issue beyond money management.
When Congress fixes all (OK, some) of the asinine loophole and other cost-ineffective measures it has in place (sometimes for all the best reasons; usually to get re-elected), then we can talk about things.
Happy Tax Day – just remember, your tax dollars are partially going to something you absolutely disagree with – abortion clinics & abstinence requirements; tobacco farmer subsidies & litigation against tobacco companies; calls for smaller federal government intervention & intervention in politically photogenic issues such as steroids in baseball or Terri Schiavo – that’s what the framers meant:
– Voltaire (who helped Ben Franklin during the 1770s)
It’s an interesting country, this USA…and so relatively young…