I don't usually wax political on my blog, but when I'm peeved enough the keyboard comes out. Let's begin with a poll:
What do you think about the Estate Tax?
A.) You are in favor of keeping, or even raising it.
B.) You think it is Federal plundering at its worst. It is wicked and base.
C.) You have no clue what I'm talking about, but you think Glee is pretty neat.
Now,
I'm in no position to lose directly from the abominable Estate Tax, but
it sickens me all the same. For those who don't know, the Estate Tax (or Death Tax, by its pejorative and more tangible name) dictates
35% of total "taxable" assets left by a deceased person whose net worth exceeds $5
million are siphoned off to the Government. In other words, after a small business owner or farmer has spent his lifetime earning and paying taxes on his income, that same wealth is taxed a second time when he dies. But who pays this tax if he is dead? The widows and the children, quite literally. The heirs of the assets are taxed.
Now, you may not feel too badly for the inheritors of such a sum until you realize the tax does not consider liquid worth but net value. So, imagine an upstart family-owned farm or catering business that grows to have 200 employees, lots of equipment, land, and insurance. The net worth of the business may be 5 million, but much of that is tied into the company itself. When the business owner dies, the children are expected to pay the government 35% of the estate value. To do so often means selling off the equipment and laying off the employees. Anticipating this, many business owners simply choose to be less prosperous and stay beneath the line.
Since when did we the people consider it best to allow our servant government to double tax us, once on receiving income, and again on passing that well-earned property down to our children as inheritance?! One might be argued that an Estate Tax is progressive, and serves to distribute wealth back to others who need it more. Such cant rhetoric is hardly bearable, and the lips of those foolish enough to trust government, rather than private individuals, to moderate charity and opportunity ought to be shut, if not slapped. If we are honest, the money descends into the abysmal control of bureaucrats, and they do not need more cash. They certainly have no more moral right to the inheritance than the family! "Anyone claiming that an heir does not deserve inherited wealth could certainly not claim a right to use the power of government to confiscate that wealth on behalf of unknown others who most certainly would not deserve the wealth by that same line of thinking."
I do not for one second believe so-called progressive politicians have bleeding hearts for the poor unfortunates of the world. Look at them. Their income and lifestyles are almost without exception luxurious, to say the least. If they feel so badly for the poor, perhaps they would dispense the upper-class portion of their wealth to the needy, and assume for themselves lower-middle class lifestyles rather than taxing others to do the trick. No, in the minds of politicians the purpose of economic collectivism has never been the good of the common man, as the common man would define it. Progressive methods of Government income have and always will be means for solidifying assets, and thereby power, under the sole jurisdiction of an elite oligarchy.
Was this helpful to you? Please share. Thanks!
© Michael Spotts:. 2010
———————
You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this article in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge any fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For printed copies, as well as web posting, please include the following statement:
By M. Benjamin Spotts:.
Copyright © The Open Life
www.theopenlife.com
Titus 3:3-8
Now, you may not feel too badly for the inheritors of such a sum until you realize the tax does not consider liquid worth but net value. So, imagine an upstart family-owned farm or catering business that grows to have 200 employees, lots of equipment, land, and insurance. The net worth of the business may be 5 million, but much of that is tied into the company itself. When the business owner dies, the children are expected to pay the government 35% of the estate value. To do so often means selling off the equipment and laying off the employees. Anticipating this, many business owners simply choose to be less prosperous and stay beneath the line.
Since when did we the people consider it best to allow our servant government to double tax us, once on receiving income, and again on passing that well-earned property down to our children as inheritance?! One might be argued that an Estate Tax is progressive, and serves to distribute wealth back to others who need it more. Such cant rhetoric is hardly bearable, and the lips of those foolish enough to trust government, rather than private individuals, to moderate charity and opportunity ought to be shut, if not slapped. If we are honest, the money descends into the abysmal control of bureaucrats, and they do not need more cash. They certainly have no more moral right to the inheritance than the family! "Anyone claiming that an heir does not deserve inherited wealth could certainly not claim a right to use the power of government to confiscate that wealth on behalf of unknown others who most certainly would not deserve the wealth by that same line of thinking."
I do not for one second believe so-called progressive politicians have bleeding hearts for the poor unfortunates of the world. Look at them. Their income and lifestyles are almost without exception luxurious, to say the least. If they feel so badly for the poor, perhaps they would dispense the upper-class portion of their wealth to the needy, and assume for themselves lower-middle class lifestyles rather than taxing others to do the trick. No, in the minds of politicians the purpose of economic collectivism has never been the good of the common man, as the common man would define it. Progressive methods of Government income have and always will be means for solidifying assets, and thereby power, under the sole jurisdiction of an elite oligarchy.
Was this helpful to you? Please share. Thanks!
© Michael Spotts:. 2010
———————
You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this article in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge any fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For printed copies, as well as web posting, please include the following statement:
By M. Benjamin Spotts:.
Copyright © The Open Life
www.theopenlife.com
Titus 3:3-8
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