SENS. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell would benefit their state and their party by supporting repeal of the federal death tax.
In perhaps their most cynical editorial on the topic yet, the Seattle Times attempts to persuade Democrats that it would be good political strategy to support repeal of the estate tax, if only to stop their Republican opponents from continuing to use it as a fundraising cash cow.
Okay, we get it already, Frank… you’re mortal, and your family doesn’t want to pay the estate tax when inevitably, the type is set on your tombstone. So how about if Murray and Cantwell trump your cynicism, and instead of repealing the estate tax entirely, they just support an exemption for all people with the last name Blethen? Will that shut you up?
Or as long as we’re considering creative incentives, how about we add a provision that raises the estate tax on newspapers by a whole percentage point, for each time they print the propagandistic misnomer “death tax” …?
Or better yet Frank, if you really have your heart set on repealing something, why not help the state close its yawning budget gap, and selflessly editorialize in support of repealing the sales tax exemption for newspapers?
I’m all for a well-informed, public debate on the estate tax… but you’re just not going to find one in the Seattle Times.
It’s about what you’d expect from Seattle’s Republican editorial board. The line I love is “What is the social purpose of such a tax?” So taxes need a social purpose? What is the social purpose of the income tax, or custom duties, or property taxes? The purpose of taxes is to raise money to pay for government services. The real question should be whether a particular tax is an equitable and effective means to raise revenue. To me there is nothing particularly inequitable about an estate tax, particularly since in many cases tax and financial planning can often mitigate the impact. We can discuss what the exemptive limit should be and we can discuss whether the amount of revenue it raises is worth it, but it doesn’t appear inequitable to me to tax property when it changes ownership. In Washington, for example, we pay roughly 1.78% whenever we sell our houses. That sounds more inequitable than an estate tax on approximately 1.5% of all estates. But then that 1.5% is largely Republican, hence the constant right wing drumbeat for repeal.
I agree with Goldy on the newspaper tax exemption, it is a rather significant budget hole. OFM could provide numbers on the bieniuem dollar total. If Bloggers (R and D) make issue of this, they could put pressure on the legislature to close the hole. But, it is unlikely that legislators would risk the ire of the publishers to do so. Something about arguing with people who buy ink by the barrell scares them.
Slightly OT, but…
I find it interesting that the original posts about taxation here greatly exceed those about budgets and spending (cuts). Do “Progressives” — and I use the term loosely — feel that there are NO valid areas to cut spending or increase efficiency in government?
Even the Democratic governor is looking at the spending side. Her announcement later today will surely make the fiscally-conservative Republicans (and Democrats) on this blog happy. She keeps this stuff up (and doesn’t return Berendt’s calls) and Dino can worry about 2006 against Maria.
One can depend on the Seattle Times, or rather Frank Blethen, to come out with his “death tax” editorial at regular intervals. His disingenuousness would be laughable if more people knew about the size, scope, and ownership of the Seattle Times Company. He portrays the business as a family concern engaged in the noble task of being an independent newspaper. Well, the Company is a mini-conglomerate in its own right, owning at least seven newspapers in the Northwest. The Company is also half-owned (49.5%, according to newspaper reports) by Knight-Ridder, hardly a struggling family business.
Pardon the self-promotion, but I like Goldy’s post about the estate tax and think other HA readers may be interested to see what I’ve posted in the past couple months on this issue.
They are here and here and today’s post here.
Mark @ 3
Does my wife calling me the “tightest sob” she’s ever known qualify me as a fiscal conservative? Your question is a good one. Maybe the next OT?
Mark @ 3 If I was in the legislature, I would happily sit down and discuss all the options on the table including spending cuts and ways to increase revenue.
The problem is that consevatives are acting in bad faith towards the legislative process. The well-known policy is to starve government of revenue until you make it small enough to kill it. So if I were ‘negotiating’ over the budget under these terms what are my choices?
If one side is not only avoiding the responsibility of governance, but playing a cynical game to destroy the very institution in which you all serve, how then can you expect to have an honest discussion.
Democrats have tried to accomodate this Republican strategy for the past two decades on a national level and have waited in vain for the moderate Republicans to win out with no luck. If you bemoan the lack of willing to compromise at this point, I don’t think you have to look much further then that. Well, that and all the trolls running around here. ;)
Mark @ 3:
— I find it interesting that the original posts about taxation here greatly exceed those about budgets and spending (cuts). Do “Progressives” – and I use the term loosely – feel that there are NO valid areas to cut spending or increase efficiency in government? —
Hey, Mark, who’s YOUR role model for cutting spending and increasing efficiency in government — Bush?
Nindid @ 7
I think both sides of the aisle are significantly populated with idiots and group-think automatons.
And now that it is public, I can link to CG’s latest press release. If this is going to be her mindset and not just a token move, I will be very annoyed with the GOP if they refuse to work with her.
http://www.governor.wa.gov/new.....newsType=1
Ivan @ 8
No, Bush would not be my role model. That’s the nice thing about the evolution of the GOP — we can disagree and not lose our RNC membership cards. How else would Giuliani and McCain be top contenders for 2008?
With Dean & MoveOn.org in control of the DeanNC, I think moderate Dems will get shut out.
Steven — the irony here is that the estate tax does have a social purpose. It’s an inheritance tax, meant to prevent the concentration of wealth into plutocratic dynasties. As Rosie Hunter and Chuck Collins put it, “From its inception, it was meant to ward off the emergence of a hereditary aristocracy in the United States.”
I guess Frank Blethen doesn’t consider that a worthwhile social purpose.
David @ 10 – Not since he is the one trying to be the aristocrat here….
If it has that purpose, then it has failed and should be abolished. Example 1: Bush 41 and 43; Example 2: Paris Hilton
Mark in 9:
With Dean & MoveOn.org in control of the DeanNC, I think moderate Dems will get shut out.
I don’t want to discourage this type of comment because it’s helping the Democratic Party’s cause. As long as Republicans continue to claim Dean is liberal, they will continue to “misunderestimate” him.
steven in 12:
If it has that purpose, then it has failed and should be abolished. Example 1: Bush 41 and 43; Example 2: Paris Hilton
Wrong word. You mean strengthened.
If you believe people in the U.S. should get ahead based on their hard work and talent, you should be pushing for a 100% inheritance tax.
ATJ @ 13
Liberal or not, Dean is a whack job. Read some of his public statements. I’ve shown them to Dems I know and they just groan.
And if you think that MoveOn.org is anything but Hard Left, moderate Dems will be rushing in droves to the moderate GOP side.
ATJ @ 13
“you should be pushing for a 100% inheritance tax”
Shhh!!! You’ll let the Dems Socialist agenda out of the bag!!
Mark~
I’ve been looking for a moderate GOP side to rush to for years. I can’t find it. Where is it?
Liberal or not, Dean is a whack job. Read some of his public statements. I’ve shown them to Dems I know and they just groan.
So, a list of quotes that induce groans means someone is a “whack job”? Of the following Republicans, which would you consider to be whack jobs: George W. Bush, Ken Mehlman, John McCain, Rick Santorum, Rudy Guiliani?
I’m pretty sure I could come up with a list of pubic statements from any one of these folks that would make a Republican groan.
And if you think that MoveOn.org is anything but Hard Left, moderate Dems will be rushing in droves to the moderate GOP side.
Of course it’s on the left, but what makes you think it controls the DNC?
Besides, I just took a quick look at their website, and, on the issues they are highlighting (S.S. and Iraq, especially), they seem to be very close to the mainstream opinion in the U.S.
P.S. Sorry about the (mis)spelling on Giuliani’s name.
Steven @ 15
Mainstream Republicans of Washington
Steven @ 15
“I’ve been looking for a moderate GOP side to rush to for years. I can’t find it. Where is it?”
I have shared your frustration, but am encouraged by some of the candidates and office-holders. You could say that McKenna won because Senn is a serious kook, but he’s a start. Dino “virtually tied” CG (as she, herself, put it). McCain isn’t really a moderate, but he’s more pragmatic than most. Rudy Giuliani is a good example. Arnold is more of an Independent under the GOP flag than a Hard Right Republican.
There are good, smart people on the Left, too. It is just that the good, smart, Progressive (in the TRUE sense of the word) Middle gets shouted down by idiots like Limbaugh or “I hate Republicans” Dean and his MoveOn crew.
ATJ @ 16
Yes, you’re right that one could likely come up with statements by most any politician that would make their constituents groan. Perhaps it is that most of Dean’s comments were so public and recent. And, in the case of the one about black hotel workers, if a Republican had said it, he’d be attacked mercilessly. In Dean’s case, you got a few comments from a few black leaders and the rest just stared at the ceiling.
RDC @ 4
The Seattle Times recently built a new printing plant at a cost of something like $150 million.
There’s more to this that meets the eye. The Seattle Times’ heirs — like most rich folks — have already figured out how to pass along their legacy to their children. The real trick of the ‘death’ tax movement is the amount of money it will save the wealthy in annual insurance premiums. Then that’s what they don’t want as part of the debate …
DB@23. That may just be where the term “filthy rich” came from. Don’t get me wrong, I like money as much as the next guy. Credit card America now is seeing the loan shark business booming, signs for before payday cash are croping up on every corner as the American dollar keeps slipping and out of our hands; were getting leass and less bang for the buck.
Another TJ@17. I don’t know Dean well enough to know if he is whack job. I just never was convinced he was the man for the job and still am not.
Chee – the job Dean has now is head of the DNC, an intentionally partisan, pro-Democrat organization. So he’s not the president or even a Senator/Representative. I think the era of Terry McCaulife (sp?) showed us that floating vaguely around the middle and doing things “the same old way” isn’t going to work anymore.
So I welcome someone like Dean, who has opened up new avenues for GOTV and fundraiding for Dems, and who understands what it means to stand up for principles, however unpopular they may be.
Remember – Republicans are attempting to tar him as some left-wing wacko because they fear his power.
cricket @ 26
“Republicans are attempting to tar him as some left-wing wacko because they fear his power.”
No, I/we/they don’t fear him. Not at all. The Hard Right was just begging for him to be annointed because he has “foot-in-mouth disease.” Personally, I am disappointed because there are fewer and fewer reasonable & rational voices in US politics. He is NOT one of them — especially with all of his rantings (more than just the “Yeeeeooowwww”).
jcricket@26. Appreciate the input. You appear to be informed and sound in your support of Dean and your assesment may be correct. I did note during his campaign he was a real go-getter, strong contender. I shall do a wait and see. Thanks.
12……….Example # 3…..Teddy “oldsmobile” Kennedy Example #4 John “Move That Fire Plug” Kerry
“All income belongs to the “guvment”. Hillary, Fidel, Dear Leader, Joe Stalin