Liberal Blogs Speak Out Against Permanent Repeal of Estate Tax

The Senate is scheduled to take up legislation next week by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that would permanently repeal the estate tax on the wealthiest Americans.

Per Harold Meyerson today in the Washington Post, "If enacted, Kyl's bill would plunge the government another trillion dollars into the red during the first decade (2011-2021) that it would be in effect." Senate Republicans are seeking a "compromise" that would "deplete revenue by only $500 billion to $600 billion during that decade," per Meyerson.

Writes Meyerson, "Even a paltry $500 billion, of course, is a lot of money to drain from public coffers....To cover those and other needs, Congress will either plunge us deeper into debt or increase some other levies -- payroll taxes, say -- that will come out of the pockets of the 99 percent of Americans whom the estate tax doesn't touch."
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Let's take a jog around the blogosphere to what liberals are saying about Senate Republicans' drive to deliver even more tax cuts to the very wealtiest Amercans....

From blogger adigal at DailyKos: "It appears as though most Democrats are poised to block this, using the filibuster if they must. But...the question is: which Dems are going to take a turn being the Benedict Arnold on this issue?? It seems as though there are a number of Dems who take turns screwing the average American to keep their corporate benefactors and their wealthy donors happy so that we cannot get a clear objection to any one of them.

If this passes, is there any question left that we are a government being run for the corporations and the wealthiest Americans? I hope the Dems stick together on this, but I am not hopeful."
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From blogger Gary at Amygdala: "The Republicans have sold this thing by lying about how it doesn't just affect the immensely wealthy, but affects small farmers, which is nonsense. They've convinced a lot of people that they or their children, will ultimately be in danger of having to pay this tax when, in fact, unless you're a member of one of these families, that isn't going to happen.

You might want to look into it, and spread the word. Not paying down the deficit takes that trillion dollars away from everyone's children."
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From blogger LiberPaul at Bring It On : "Estate Tax only affects 1% of our population and yet we see the GOP trying really, really hard to repeal it. The repeal would cost around $1 Trillion (that’s with a T) over the first decade. This decade, when many boomers are looking to retire and starting to cash in on SS and Medicare.

We are spending hundreds of billions more than we are taking in and yet, the GOP wants to take more revenue away from the Treasury. Another story of the rich getting richer…"
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From Can We Call It Fascism Yet? at MySpace: "From the Office of Representative Henry Waxman / Committee on Government Reform....

Next week the Senate is scheduled to consider legislation (H.R. 8)to repeal the estate tax. Repealing the tax, which has been law since 1916, is estimated to cost $1 trillion from 2011-2021. Although the tax affects few Americans, repeal will give some families extraordinary windfalls.

The CEO's of major oil companies, for instance, would get enormous benefits if H.R. 8 were enacted. The family of one oil executive, Lee Raymond (the former ExxonMobil CEO), alone could receive a tax break worth over $160 million.

This report analyzes the impact that repeal would have on the families of the senior executives for the major oil companies. In 2005, the minority staff of the Government Reform Committee released a similar analysis showing that repealing the estate tax repeal would save the President, Vice President, and 11 cabinet members as much as $344 million."
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And the final word comes from McArthur Web: "It's like you had a representative looking out for your interests in Washington, except you don't...." (With repeal of the estate tax)," you and your children and grandchildren will pay for the privilege of establishing an hereditary leisure class in America."