Nothing in life is certain, they say, except death and taxes. Conservatives haven’t found a way to exempt rich people from death yet, but they’re doing their damnedest to make sure they never have to pay taxes.
One of the right-wingers’ favorite targets in this crusade is the estate tax, or “death tax,” as they like to call it. Here in Oregon the current campaign to eliminate the state estate tax is being led by professional ballot initiative promoter Kevin Mannix and his trusty lieutenant, Koch Brothers protégée Tim Knopp, who also is the Republican nominee for the state Senate district including Bend.Mannix, Knopp and their minions are circulating petitions to get an initiative to kill the estate tax on the ballot. As of last week they had collected about 75,000 signatures, according to Mannix; they need to get about 12,000 more by July 6.
The lies being peddled about the Oregon estate tax are the same ones we’ve been hearing for decades: The “death tax” is unfair because “the money has already been taxed.” People are forced to sell the family farm to pay the tax. The tax discourages people from investing in Oregon. It encourages them to retire to other states.
Let’s take them one at a time.
First, the label “death tax” is silly. Nobody has to pay a tax to die in Oregon. The tax is taken out of the estate.
Second, the money has not “already been taxed.” For the heirs who receive it, it’s new money; they’ve never paid any taxes on it. Saying that somebody who inherits $10 million from Uncle Elwood shouldn’t pay tax on it is as absurd as claiming that somebody who wins $10 million at the blackjack tables shouldn’t pay tax on it because the casino did.
Third, the Oregon estate tax is levied only on estates over $1 million. And for “natural resource properties” such as farms or timber land the threshold is $7.5 million. Critics of Oregon’s “death tax” can’t point to a single verifiable case of a family farm being lost because of it.
Finally, there’s also no credible evidence that the estate tax is driving people or businesses out of the state. In a typical year, 32,000 people die in Oregon and only 732 of them leave estates that owe any tax. The rate at the bottom is only 10%, rising to 16% at the top – hardly a confiscatory level.
Bottom line: The crusade against the estate tax isn’t about fairness or justice or helping the state’s economy – it’s about a small number of rich people trying to avoid taxes. Tax Fairness Oregon argues that the $100 million the tax generates each year could pay for one week of school for all the children in the state, and that Oregonians should care more about that than about shielding 732 families from a tax they can well afford to pay.
We agree. So we’re giving Tim Knopp and the other estate tax repealers THE BOOT, and we urge you to do likewise if somebody approaches you with a petition.
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2012.
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First of all, I have no sympathy for any one of those 732 who did not plan adequately so that they would not have to pay any death tax in the first place. $100 million spread over 732 is about $136,000 meaning that the taxable estate probably exceeded $10 million. Shame on them for not protecting that amount.
Having said that, your analogies are absurd on their face. First you say that you don’t pay a tax for dying, but you do pay a tax as the result of dying (presuming your taxable estate is large enough). If upheld by the Supreme Court, you’ll start paying a tax for being born as the result of Obamacare.
You then say the beneficiaries pay the tax which is entirely wrong. The tax is paid by the estate prior to the distribution of the estate. You even state that the tax is paid by the estate which is only the extension of you after you die. So which is it?
The property that you have accumulated throughout a lifetime and on which you have already paid a tax is now grabbed again before this property can go to the people or charities or whatever of your choice…..only because you died. Sorry, this indeed is a death tax.
I might add that the winnings at a Casino are the result of a transaction, an exchange. Just like you exchanging your labor for a paycheck. All taxes are the result of an exhange or transaction. For this one, all you have to do is be successful and die.
And perhaps today’s family business should be substituted for the family farm of yesteryear. Businesses must be sold all the time to pay estate taxes often to the detriment of the employees.
When asked, liberals can’t provide a rational answer to the justification for such a second bite at the apple. The only response is that they need/want your money for something. And without this money the first things they’d cut are always teachers, policemen, and firefighters, not the clock watching bureaucrats.
“First, the label “death tax” is silly. Nobody has to pay a tax to die in Oregon. The tax is taken out of the estate.”
…………….when you die, no death, no tax. The state of Virginia even calls it a death tax.
“Second, the money has not “already been taxed.” For the heirs who receive it, it’s new money; they’ve never paid any taxes on it.”
Its been taxed all along to the owner. Casino comparison is invalid since the jackpot winner is not a family member of the casino owner entitled to the remnants of an unfortunate family event.
“Critics of Oregon’s “death tax” can’t point to a single verifiable case of a family farm being lost because of it.
Finally, there’s also no credible evidence that the estate tax is driving people or businesses out of the state.”
Bet you didn’t look either. Left wing journalists have no problem scouring the country for the three people whose mom and dog died after their car broke down the day they contracted cancer and therefore could not make it to the bank to stop their home foreclosure, which the big evil bank processed anywway.
Nobody is standing at the border conducting exit interviews. These types of influences work subtly at the margins. It requires careful, thoughtful study to notice such things, a skill lost on blustering liberals. Detroit, California, and New York are prime examples of the result of unfettered liberalism and the excessive taxation and restriction on markets and free enterprise that come with it. citizens are leaving in droves.
From the Tax Fairness Oregon: “Our goal is to promote a tax code that is fair, progressive, serves the common good, and is fully enforced.”
The only “fair” tax is one in which all pay the same rate. Progressive taxes are punitive to success and hard work. Half of Americans pay no tax whatsoever, while the evil rich carry the load for everybody. Nothing is stopping you tax lovers from leading with your own wallets, the IRS will glady accept your idealistic personal check for as much money as you feel the government needs.
Also from their site:
” In peaceful solidarity with occupy wall street”
End of discussion as the group is a member of the .001%.
Oh JJ,The only fair tax is one which all pay the same rate?Originally when the Feds put personal income tax on the shoulders of citizens it was only supposed to be temporary.It was supposed to be abolished once the government could pull itself out of the hole it was in at the time.The politicans,once the money came rolling in,were not about to let go of a good thing.Not only could they use it to bankroll special interests they could also put the fear of God AKA the IRS into citizens who didn’t follow their rules to the letter.Our government could get creative and raise revenue in a mulitude of ways without insisting that citizens pay their fair share.We could stop trying to legislate morality,which does not work as proved by the Prohibition Act,and legalize the following untaxed booming business entities.First legalize all drugs,prostition and gambling in every state in the nation.That would also empty out the prisions since the average prisoner costs us about 25 large to feed,provide orange jumpsuits and teach inmates how to become better criminals.We could then control and make safe activities and products that florish despite the costly and incompetent efforts of the various enforcement agencies such as the DEA,local narcs and the ever bumbling FBI.The increasing drug cartels,Russian,Italian,Israli and other emerging Mafia’s probably would get their knickers in a twist about it but hey they will just have to find a new vice to push.I know,I’m a dreamer that hopes someday people will wake up and let go of their outdated Puritan mindset and see the world as it really is and that we don’t live in a Thomas Kinkade painting world.
Parrish,
I should have said, “if taxes are levied the only fair tax is one which all pay the same rate”.
As for the libertarian utopia you outline, the inevitable outcome would be runaway social and economic decline that would corrode the nation from the inside. I for one am not willing to surrender my children and my nation to dopers and hookers as you are so willing to do.