Billionaires May Win As Democrats Split Over Estate Tax

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-25/billionaires-may-win-as-democrats-split-over-estate-tax.html

Senate Democrats, who are united in support of higher income tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, are paralyzed by disagreements on how to tax the estates of the wealthiest Americans.

Lobbied by business owners and billionaires, Democrats including Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana resisted a proposal from President Barack Obama to tax individual estates of more than $3.5 million -- roughly three in 1,000 -- at a top rate of 45 percent. The split among Democrats, who control the Senate, will give Republicans more influence on the issue after the Nov. 6 election

“It’s something that’s really divided and perplexed our caucus about what’s the fair way to move forward,” said Landrieu, who supports repealing the estate tax and wants to reach a compromise with Republicans. “We don’t have the votes to do anything, really, with it.”

As a result, when the Senate votes as scheduled at 2:15 p.m. in Washington today on a bill to extend income tax cuts that expire Dec. 31, the proposal will be silent on the estate tax. Democratic leaders in the Senate sidestepped the estate tax to focus on an issue on which almost all of them agree: Obama’s plan to let income tax cuts expire for the top 2 percent.

[Cary]

1. The estate tax has always been, for all intents and purposes, optional

Unless you have a ridiculous amount of money there are so many ways out of having to pay the tax that the tax is basically a tax on poor planning.

But we need to have estate taxes. We were not, as some "conservatives" (teabaggers in particular) claim, a revolt against taxation. We were a revolt against taxation without representation. We were a revolt against the inherited wealth and privilege of the British aristocracy and monarchy.

So what's more American than a tax on inherited wealth and privilege?

[sadbear]

2. Pryor and Landrieu, huh?

Why are they still charading as Democrats? Neither one will be reelected as Democrats.

[The Magistrate]

3. Indeed, Sir: Two Of The Most Usual Suspects....

[Zorra]

4. Shocking!...not - 47% of Congress Members Millionaires — a Status Shared by Only 1% of Americans

Of course they're gonna take care of their own, and we're not in that club. All lobbying must end, and Citizen's United must be rendered moot, if we are ever going to have any possible shot at a establishing a genuine, and effective, functional egalitarian democracy in the US. It's a suckers game, and the 1% owns the casino and pays the staff.

47% of Congress Members Millionaires

It’s no secret that many members of the U.S. House and Senate are millionaires — 47 percent of them — their salaries paid in part by the American taxpayers.

The Center for Responsive Politics has crunched the numbers and released the results on its Open Secrets blog:

“About 47 percent of Congress, or 249 current members are millionaires. … In 2010, the estimated median net worth of a current U.S. senator stood at an average of $2.56 million,” according to the Center’s research.

“Despite the global economic meltdown in 2008 and the sluggish recovery that followed, that’s up about 7.6 percent from an estimated median net worth of $2.38 million in 2009 … and up 13 percent from a median net worth of $2.27 million in 2008. … Fully 36 Senate Democrats, and 30 Senate Republicans reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010. The same was true for 110 House Republicans and 73 House Democrats.”

“The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships,” said Sheila Krumholz at the Center For Responsive Politics. “Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushions maintained by most members of Congress — or the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal, financial gains.”

[msongs]

5. LBJ would put a stop to this nonsense nt