Repealing death tax correct move

Repealing death tax correct move

THE DAILY MINING GAZETTE
www.mininggazette.com

When the Senate took up action on the "death tax" recently, the taxing class offered up what has become a mantra in big government quarters: It would "cost too much" to eliminate the tax, formally known as the estate tax, just now.

Some repeal opponents even imply that they readily agree with the policy objective; they just don't want to make the hard budgetary choices necessary to make it happen within any bounds of fiscal responsibility. It's a familiar refrain heard about other immoral tax schemes as well, notably the grossly unfair and unpredictable "alternative minimum tax."

Such is the nonsense from greedy politicians when they become too enamored of budgetary process and completely lose sight of fundamental principles.
So let's get back to basics: What exactly is the moral argument for the government to confiscate a large portion of a person's lifetime savings, upon which income taxes already have been paid? There isn't one. Washington imposes hefty death taxes because dead people don't vote.

The death tax is an immoral levy, and it is made no more moral by the fact that it "only" strikes people who have accumulated estates worth a few million dollars but aren't quite rich enough to hire the platoons of lawyers and accountants used to protect some of the nation's most famous fortunes.

The death tax often precipitates the sale of family-owned businesses, sometimes in what amount to fire sales. That can result in disruption of good jobs. Warren Buffet - a prominent supporter of the death tax - has become the nation's second-wealthiest man precisely by buying family-run businesses that would not have been sold at all but for the estate tax planning made necessary by the death tax.

The House of Representatives voted, by a hefty margin, to eliminate the tax, beginning in 2010. Clearly, a majority of House members understand the basic unfairness of such a levy. Instead of asking themselves whether they can "afford" death tax repeal, members of the Senate ought to ask themselves how much longer an immoral, indefensible policy ought to continue. Answer: Not another day.