Estate Tax Would Aid Privileged Few. Minimum Wage Hike: Many More

[Omaha Steve]

Full article: http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/08/07/estate-tax-would-aid-privileged-few-minimum-wage-hike-many-more/

Legislation & Politics, Bush & Co.

Aug 7

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Estate Tax Would Aid Privileged Few. Minimum Wage Hike: Many More

The Senate last Thursday blocked an incredibly obnoxious move to give a handful of the nation’s multimillionaire families a huge windfall by slashing the estate tax so deeply that it was close to a complete repeal. In a move that drew heavy criticism for its cynicism, Republican congressional leaders tacked a minimum wage increase onto the estate tax repeal, making the package a poison pill that stands in the way of minimum-wage workers getting a long-overdue pay raise.

Apparently, they thought workers would sit as expectantly as the family dog at the foot of the holiday feast table, waiting to lick a few splotches of gravy from the empty plates.

Exaggeration? Maybe not. Three new reports by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) take a deep look at the wide disparity between those who would benefit from an estate tax cut and those who would gain with a minimum wage increase. The reports also delve into the continuing reduction in the estate tax for the past decade and just how little difference exists between the so-called estate tax “compromise” bill that was killed Thursday and earlier moves to slash or eliminate the estate tax.

In a state-by-state comparison of the number of Americans who would benefit from a $7.25-an-hour raise in the minimum wage versus how many gained from an estate tax cut in 2004, CBPP found:

* The estate tax reduction only affects the nation’s most well-off households, while the minimum wage increase would boost the earnings of some of the lowest-income workers in the country.

* Overall, some 5.6 million workers in the United States would benefit from a minimum wage increase, while only 30,000 estates had to pay taxes in 2004. In Louisiana, some 274,000 workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase, yet only 91 estates had to pay estate taxes in 2004 when the exemption stood at $1 million for individuals and $2 million for couples.

* When the current estate tax exemption hits its peak—$5 million for individuals and $10 million for married couples, only 0.03 percent of estates would face any tax burden at all—and those taxes would be significantly reduced from today’s tax rate.

[Democrats_win]

1. Estate tax loss would increase deficit which is already harming economy.

Higher interest rates are caused by the federal government borrowing more money to pay for deficit spending. Already the rising interest rates are slowing the housing market. Worse, all of this government borrowing isn't doing the average American or the future of America any good.

[Oversea Visitor]

2. No issue

Nov near Vote Dems you get minimium wage raise. Why sacrifice principle. Why swallow poison pill.
Only short time more.

Why help spin talking point of making Dems look bad. :rofl:

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 after 3 years is a chimera --

to keep pace with the losses in minimum wage we need a $9.00 minimum today. So offering a less than needed increase, 'balanced' by a deficit increasing, therefore tax burden shifting cut for the wealthiest families can only result in further widening of the gap between the poor and the wealthy. Not to mention, the tip-earners penalty built into the proposed legislation.

As suggested by others, wait till we retake congress and pass minimum wage legislation that actually accomplishes what it is intended to do.

[dweller]

4. from today's SMW

dp