4 Senate "Democrats" prove they absolutely hate the poor

[TeePee4Prez]

There was a cloture vote on a permanent complete repeal of the estate tax.  It failed 57-41. Baucus, Lincoln, and both Nelsons voted AYE.  2 Democrats were absent.

Roll call vote should be here, but it mysteriously disappeared.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00164

Can someone explain to me how Ben Nelson is a Democrat?

Yeah, that is a little f-ed up.  The estate tax brings in a few hundred million in revenue.  Wonder where they're gonna get it from.

Why is Ben Nelson a Democrat?  Is he becoming a Zell Miller?

[TeePee4Prez]

Repealing estate tax = helping and loving the poor

Your brain isn't functioning.

How the hell does it help the poor? Talk about a brain-dead attack.

In some cases, the estates are small business assets, that employ a few people and do not produce huge wealth for the owners.  The owner dies, the heirs get hit with the tax and close or cut down on expenses, by firing employees.  More unemployment.

They can't be too small a business or they won't be taxed. Anything under $2 million for an individual or $4 million for a couple is completely untaxed.  Nice try at right-wing propaganda, but it failed.

A small business can easily have more than $2 million in assets.  I'm not talking GM, Wall-mart or Microsoft.  Something like a family owned trucking business/moving business, a small family owned medical practice or legal practice, a moderately large farm.  Even something like a large restaurant can get above that amount.  Even someone with 3-4 dry cleaning stores, or 2 or 3 funeral homes, would be above that.

We're talking reality, no right wing anything.

I agree there should be a higher exemption amount, but by no means should it be repealed.  I could agree with an amount no greater than say $15 million though.  Repealing it completely is totally plutocratic and keeps money in the hands of the very few. 

[TeePee4Prez]

I think there should definitely be a higher exemption amount, and it should be indexed to inflation.

As always with the federal tax code, there is an element of regional discrimination here.  With home values in this part of the country, an estate of $1 million + is not at all unusual here, even for a person who lived a relatively modest life.  In this section of the country, a net worth of $1-2 million late in life is that of an upper middle class person, not a wealthy one.

This tax should be hitting the truly wealthy, not the upper middle class.  I'd put an exemption amount of $5-10 million on it.  That would easily rope in the 18 families that jfern is talking about.

I don't necessarily support full repeal of the tax for practical reasons.  I'd much sooner lower taxes on working people given the choice, despite the fact that I have some philosophical problems with the estate tax.  Still, in many ways, the government facilitates tax-free inheritance, through mechanisms like adjusted basis, which allows those who inherit real estate to set their tax basis at the value the property had the time of inheritance, and thereby avoid the tax on the increase in value from the time the decedant (sp?) purchased the property.

Excellent post and I forgot to add the indexing for inflation.  I'm glad some Republicans don't agree with full repeal.  Even I recognize the fact that a $1 million estate, especially in this part of the country with a home plus remaining 401(k)s, CDs, stocks, bonds, etc. could add up to just that.