| CNN has a nice little report on the different tax reforms we can expect to hear about as the federal goverment looks to raise revenue for its stimulus spending while still giving middle-class taxpayers a break. In short, there's talk of increasing revenue by going after offshore tax havens and international corporations, taxing hedge fund managers at normal rates, reinstituting the estate tax, and taxing health benefits; and extending the Bush tax cuts for middle-class families and making permanent the work pay tax credit. Max Baucus will have his finger in all of these pots.
I bring up these reforms, because big sage mentioned in the comments of the "Links..." post that Baucus and Tester voted to raise the cap for the estate tax...
The estate tax was phased out under the Bush adminsitration, but scheduled to re-emerge from its slumbers in 2010 at pre-2001 cap levels. Baucus wants to raise the cap to $3.5 million for an individual and $7 million for a couple at 45 percent, and adjustable for inflation.
Now I'm a big advocate for the estate tax. We tax lottery winnings -- why not tax the biggest lottery winners of them all, the inheritors of fortunes not earned? And those fortunes were no doubt built on the infrastructure that tax dollars provided -- roads and lines of communications, a secure marketplace, education for the workforce, etc & co -- why not take some of that money back to ensure a working society so that Richie Rich, Jr. can make his stab at a fortune (with 55 percent of mom and dad's millions as a starter kit)?
But I hardly find a $3.5 million cap too lenient...you know? While the meme that the estate tax hurts family farms is 95 percent myth, keeping the threshold well above the value of your typical farm isn't a bad idea...
Discuss. |
