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November 16, 2007
The estate tax
Warren Buffet, who is worth many billions of dollars, is calling on Congress to keep the death tax in place, because repealing it would benefit rich people and widen the widen the income disparity, as though there's something wrong with benefiting rich people and widening the income disparity.This isn't satire.
The death tax doesn't benefit rich people. After all, the rich people who have to pay the death tax are already dead. The death tax affects those who would inherit estates or portions of estates -- wealth that has already been taxed at least one time.(from)
The death tax affects people who inherit more than 2 million a year-- how much more depends on the exact year they die. So: If I inherit 2million dollars, I become... rich. Therefore the estate tax only effects the... rich. This isn't complicated.
If you think Paris Hilton (or the Gates' kids, for that matter) have some sort of moral right to being given money they didn't earn, by all means speak up. Me? I think inherited riches are destructive to democratic society.
Posted by Andrew at November 16, 2007 03:51 PM
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