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Campaign for America’s Future / Op-Ed
Published: Wednesday 12 December 2012
This runs counter to a continuing movement by conservatives to eliminate the estate tax altogether, raise the ceiling so high that only a few ultra-rich individuals have to pay it, or set the tax rate at a level that it is not consequential to the people required to pay it.
Millionaires Defend the Estate Tax
More than 30 of the wealthiest Americans have signed a letter to Congress and the Obama administration arguing that the estate tax should be raised, not lowered, especially at a time when much of the political establishment is calling for the already economically vulnerable to surrender more of their financial security as the price for backing the country away from the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
Several of the millionaires were featured at a news conference today organized by United for a Fair Economy. They are members of the Responsible Wealth coalition, and the statement they issued today calls for setting the estate tax threshold at $2 million for individuals and $4 million for couples. The current threshold is set at $10 million by a law that expires at the end of the year.
“We believe it is right to have a significant tax on large estates when they are passed on to the next generation. We believe it is right morally and economically, and that an estate tax promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power,” the statement reads.
This runs counter to a continuing movement by conservatives to eliminate the estate tax altogether, raise the ceiling so high that only a few ultra-rich individuals have to pay it, or set the tax rate at a level that it is not consequential to the people required to pay it.
One of the more eloquent defenses of the estate tax was delivered by Abigail Disney, a filmmaker whose grandfather was the brother of Walt Disney and co-founder of the Disney entertainment empire.
“Let me state this as plainly as I can,” she said. “The current state of affairs is absolutely counter to my deepest values as an American. I have no desire to compound my already significant advantages, and the advantages of my children, especially on the backs of the middle class.”
Disney and the other members of the Responsible Wealth coalition argue that a robust estate tax, targeted at the top 1 percent of estates, will generate the revenues needed to fund the infrastructure and services that made their prosperity possible, so that a new generation of business owners and workers can benefit. A high estate tax also encourages large charitable contributions. And, it ensures that wealth is not perpetually concentrated in the hands of a small, closed aristocracy, but that America can fulfill the promise of upward mobility and shared prosperity.
You can show your support for preserving and strengthening the estate tax by signing this petition.
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By Ronnie Cummins
6 comments on "Millionaires Defend the Estate Tax"
December 12, 2012 5:11pm
Anything over 5 million should be taxed at 90% of estate tax. Why? It's a little like Bill Gates said when asked how much money he was going to give his child to "start out."
He said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Not very much. He's going to have to do it on his own. Probably 10 million."
This is how wealthy people think. Doing it on their own is starting with 10 million?
How about this you soft mother fuckers. Start with what I did--$0.0, no contacts and an average IQ. Now let's talk.
December 12, 2012 4:00pm
do away with estate charitable giving deduction to captured charity [ ones created by the estate]
December 12, 2012 2:58pm
I learned a trade , got an education ,eventually bought 2 bankrupt businesses because that is all I could afford , worked 12 hours a day , 6 days a week for 34 years . I was frugal and saved money . I invested conservatively and increased my savings X X X . I paid the max tax [ about 35 % ] over the years on every penny I earned . Because I sacrificed and saved money ,[ when others partied and lived the good life ] how dare the government upon my death tax my savings another 50 % + on what I saved . It is MY money to do with what I want . They are arrogant parasitical BASTARDS . Enough is never enough .
December 12, 2012 12:00pm
The statement says it all very nicely. The continuing concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands is producing a situation which is not conducive to a democratic form of government. Furthermore, we have reached a point where the engine of our prosperity, consumerism, is being threatened by the inability of the middle class to generate the funds to sustain it. If the current trends continue we will become a low wage, low tech oligarcy ruled by the wealthy elite. Exactly what the founding fathers feared.
December 12, 2012 3:47pm
I agree that things have changed radically since the 1960's . The C.E.O.'s and Big wigs used to earn about 40 X what a factory worker earned . Now they earn about 400 X what a factory worker earns . That is pure unadultrated GREED . Our elected " public servants " bailed out the too big to fail becaused they gambled with investors money and lost . They destroyed many retirement funds of the average working man . And now our bought and paid for politicians pretend they are working in our interests . They are co - conspirators in the destruction of our economy . Both parties are corrupt . The only hope for this country is for a Military Coup d' Etat . After putting these corrupt slime on trial and cleaning house , it should be mandated that we must have at least 4 or 5 political parties as contenders to run for office. Otherwise all is lost. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum is no choice .
December 12, 2012 11:06am
Well Amen!!!!! Will wonders never seize????