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COMMENTS:
Ah, yes, I do know about the death tax holiday in 2010, but that is just a temporary reprieve. In all likelihood, it will be business as usual or worse under the Obama administration afterward.
Voted : No, this is an unjust practice of a bloated government.
Fix the tax laws, close the loopholes, and the Guv'mint won't have as much trouble raising money.
Just an idea...
I wonder how much the Kennedy fatcats would have to pay. That goes also for the Kerrys, Gores, and Biden.
^ And the Bushes! ;-D
Voted : Yes, I'd love for my heirs to hand over half of my estate.
I think there should be higher death taxes "as you call it" to prevent idiot children of the rich to suckle on the teats of the dead for perpetuity.
like it or not, the system of royalty and the nobelmen passing on their "title/cash" to generations to come is not what most people/civilization want.
by LCD on Mon Jul 13, 09 11:18am
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I guess I should have voted for the third choice.. :)
seriously though, through estate planning, they should be allowed to direct where the $$ goes (charity, foundation, etc) but after that, I say 90% should go to the coffers of the living, and not just their descendents.
by LCD on Mon Jul 13, 09 11:20am
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"like it or not, the system of royalty and the nobelmen passing on their "title/cash" to generations to come is not what most people/civilization want."
Yet, the picture you depict's completely inaccurate. One famous recent study of millionaires in the U.S. revealed that over 70% made their money and *didn't* inherit it, and of that roughly 3/4's, most had produced that wealth during the past 15 years. This was reported on in some depth in "Fortune" and "Business Week." Another study showed that, once there is a millionaire in the family, the average family squanders this wealth or loses it within three generations. Your image of the wealthy as producing a gang of Paris-Hilton-like useless imbeciles, who live in perpetual undeserved grandeur, like George IV in his decadence at Brighton Pavilion, is in the main so much socialist propaganda.
Really, why just grab it when the mainly hard-working millionaires die? Why not just grab it all while they're alive? Better yet, why not punish them or torture them for having achieved?
Then, we could all enjoy the glorious life of circa 1988 Bulgaria or Albania...
You also conveniently leave out the philanthropist millionaires and billionaires, the Bill Gates, Warren Buffetts, the Andrew Carnegies, who, once they have all of that filthy lucre, choose to give it away in rather spectacular fashion.
You also fail to provide any reason as to why that 45% death tax rate should apply to mid-size enterprises of $3.5 million value. Such businesses hire more employees than any other segment of the U.S. economy. When they wind up gutted by the IRS, this can't be of any immediate benefit to those workers.
No, the death tax is an immoral, wretched bit of oppressive legislation of a byzantine, bloated government that steals decades of honest or at least dedicated labor from entrepeneurs & family businesses. The government should hang its collective head in shame.
...Or at least be hanged.
Felix: once again, an excellent point! Let us count the ways of generous donations by certain "wealthies" such as The Hollywood Bunch and The professional sportster billionaires and any politician who's ever been re-elected. I would wager that their generous donations fall short of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Many people who favor the Death Tax would QUICKLY change their opinion if they suddenly became "self-made" and, resultingly, wealthy. I, on the other hand, and not wealthy, but I want the chance to become that way, on my own, not off of someone else.
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