Owning Up To The Death Tax Burden
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Using the legislative process as only he knows how, Nevada’s U.S. Senator Harry Reid is working hard to keep any possible solution for the reinstitution of the Death Tax from coming about in January of 2011. While promoting how he has picked up the phone to save jobs in Las Vegas or telling us how grateful we should be about the role he is playing in establishing a totally unsustainable alternative energy industry – not much gets reported on how his legislative activities are keeping family-owned businesses from realizing relieve (even partially) from the snap-back of the Death Tax in 2011.
If one didn’t know better, the ultimate purpose of the current regime is the complete devastation of our private enterprise system. This would appear to be the mission the U.S. Senate Majority Leader is carrying out with the legislative maneuvers oriented to keep Death Tax reform off the voting docket in the U.S. Senate. Doing nothing (something that the U.S. Senate has proven to be quite good at under the Senator’s “leadership”) accomplishes the objective of the Death Tax coming back full force in 2011.
As we can see from these various points , provided by the American Family Business Foundation, there is a lot of sound, economic reasoning that forms the basis for a total, permanent repeal of the Death Tax. However, even the partial reform that is offered in the bi-partisan proposal by Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jon Kyl of Arizona is being thwarted by Senator Reid who has indicated that the legislation being considered for the amendment has gone past the limits of what might be considered for amendments. This is an interesting application of the “rules” by the person who has found ways to accomplish his agenda through such things as the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”
While trying to convince Nevada voters about how things would have been so much worse (this with Nevada leading the way in unemployment) if he hadn’t been there inventing the concept of “saved” or “created” jobs – without having to account for the lost employment that the government’s wild spending was causing to crash the economy – we’re not suppose to recognize that the impending tax increases in 2011 aren’t going to make things worse?
Economist Dr. Douglas Holtz Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that the Death Tax lowers overall employment in America by 1.5 Million jobs…government’s confiscation of capital seems to have a negative effect on business enterprises trying to stay in business and provide jobs.
One study , by economist Steve Entin, highlights the degree to which the Death Tax harms the whole American economy – lowering GDP by $119 Billion and labor income by $79 Billion.
Perhaps the most interesting arguments made to justify the imposition of the Death Tax is the desire to use this government power in order to redistribute wealth earned by others to those who think government has a place in carrying out this objective. Supposedly we’re to believe that the super wealthy will be prevented from maintaining their huge treasures and developing lines of heritage where estates are perpetuated. This would be the folks who are using the system to establish non-taxed protections like foundations and trust that keep what they’ve got while supporting the process of the government taking away any up-and-comers ability to pass the results of their hard work and good fortune to their children and grandchildren.
The bottom line is that the Death Tax is an unjustifiable and inappropriate confiscation of capital. Those who aren’t working to do away with or even partially abate the implementation of the Death Tax are in fact the persons who should be held accountable, by voters in November.
Using the legislative process as only he knows how, Nevada’s U.S. Senator Harry Reid is working hard to keep any possible solution for the reinstitution of the Death Tax from coming about in January of 2011. While promoting how he has picked up the phone to save jobs in Las Vegas or telling us how grateful we should be about the role he is playing in establishing a totally unsustainable alternative energy industry – not much gets reported on how his legislative activities are keeping family-owned businesses from realizing relieve (even partially) from the snap-back of the Death Tax in 2011.
If one didn’t know better, the ultimate purpose of the current regime is the complete devastation of our private enterprise system. This would appear to be the mission the U.S. Senate Majority Leader is carrying out with the legislative maneuvers oriented to keep Death Tax reform off the voting docket in the U.S. Senate. Doing nothing (something that the U.S. Senate has proven to be quite good at under the Senator’s “leadership”) accomplishes the objective of the Death Tax coming back full force in 2011.
As we can see from these various points , provided by the American Family Business Foundation, there is a lot of sound, economic reasoning that forms the basis for a total, permanent repeal of the Death Tax. However, even the partial reform that is offered in the bi-partisan proposal by Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jon Kyl of Arizona is being thwarted by Senator Reid who has indicated that the legislation being considered for the amendment has gone past the limits of what might be considered for amendments. This is an interesting application of the “rules” by the person who has found ways to accomplish his agenda through such things as the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”
While trying to convince Nevada voters about how things would have been so much worse (this with Nevada leading the way in unemployment) if he hadn’t been there inventing the concept of “saved” or “created” jobs – without having to account for the lost employment that the government’s wild spending was causing to crash the economy – we’re not suppose to recognize that the impending tax increases in 2011 aren’t going to make things worse?
Economist Dr. Douglas Holtz Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that the Death Tax lowers overall employment in America by 1.5 Million jobs…government’s confiscation of capital seems to have a negative effect on business enterprises trying to stay in business and provide jobs.
One study , by economist Steve Entin, highlights the degree to which the Death Tax harms the whole American economy – lowering GDP by $119 Billion and labor income by $79 Billion.
Perhaps the most interesting arguments made to justify the imposition of the Death Tax is the desire to use this government power in order to redistribute wealth earned by others to those who think government has a place in carrying out this objective. Supposedly we’re to believe that the super wealthy will be prevented from maintaining their huge treasures and developing lines of heritage where estates are perpetuated. This would be the folks who are using the system to establish non-taxed protections like foundations and trust that keep what they’ve got while supporting the process of the government taking away any up-and-comers ability to pass the results of their hard work and good fortune to their children and grandchildren.
The bottom line is that the Death Tax is an unjustifiable and inappropriate confiscation of capital. Those who aren’t working to do away with or even partially abate the implementation of the Death Tax are in fact the persons who should be held accountable, by voters in November.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 7/22/2010 5:22 AM 
Categories: Congress
Tags: Nevada Death Taxes U.S. Senate Estate Taxes
Categories: Congress
Tags: Nevada Death Taxes U.S. Senate Estate Taxes
While the tax rate should be reduced to a more reasonable level, the estate tax should be re-instituted. Many of these super wealthy people got their way in demanding no oversight or regulation in their financial transactions, and helped crash the economy. Now they're going to help pay for it. Sounds just to me.
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