[lbo-talk] A New Name for "Estate Tax"?

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Sat Feb 18 10:21:57 PST 2006



> The only asset most Americans have at the end of their
> lives is their home, their "real estate."

I'm not sure "most" covers it; there are a large number of people whose small business is also the asset they die with. For many, that ends the business (or worse: puts their heirs into debt after paying the inheritance tax).

[ ... ]


> To break this cycle, we need to make a case for working-class
> tax cuts: cut taxes on workers and pay for the working-class
> tax cuts by higher taxes on the rich and corporations.

A simpler place to start would be the abolishment of payroll taxes: put Social Security and Medicare on equal terms with the rest of the budget, see how far that gets us -- income taxes are already pretty progressive, though of course they could get better. There's a bit of "You want it? You gotta pay for it!" but the focus is on income taxes because that's the thing you can avoid. The only way to avoid payroll taxes is (paradoxically) to make a LOT more money.

/jordan



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