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Bernie … Bernie … Bernie …

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #25 on: February 05, 2019, 11:30:37 am »


Bernie has the right idea: tax the crap out of the super-rich when they kick the bucket.

And close up all the tax loopholes whereby they use trusts and other means to avoid paying inheritance taxes.




from The Washington Post…

EDITORIAL: Bernie Sanders's estate tax plan would
reduce the federal debt and help even the playing field


The super-rich should pay more in inheritance taxes.

By THE WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD | 6:57PM EST — Sunday, February 03, 2019

Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on January 30. — Photograph: Win Mcnamee/Getty Images.
Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on January 30.
 — Photograph: Win Mcnamee/Getty Images.


IT WILL NOT be a question of whether prominent 2020 Democratic presidential candidates favor hiking taxes on the very wealthy. It will be a question of how they propose to do it. Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat-Massachusetts) last month suggested a wealth tax of 2 percent per year on fortunes of more than $50 million, an idea that is constitutionally questionable and logistically difficult. Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) entered the scene on Thursday with a better plan: substantially hiking the estate tax on huge inheritances, an alternative to taxing someone's fortune during his or her lifetime.

The country has an estate tax, but the rate and the amount exempted from the inheritance tax have bounced around as Republicans and Democrats have fought a tug of war over its terms. The number of estates hit with some level of inheritance tax has plummeted from more than 50,000 in 2001 to fewer than 10,000 in recent years. The 2017 GOP tax law doubled the inheritance tax exemption from $11 million per couple to $22 million per couple, driving the number of estates liable to pay the tax below a negligible 2,000 per year.

This was just the latest victory in Republicans' push to protect wealthy heirs at the expense of the federal purse, and one of the most obvious giveaways to the super-wealthy in the 2017 tax cut law. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out that, even for those heirs getting more than $22 million, the latest estate tax reform amounted to giving them a $4.4 million tax break on the newly exempted portion of their inheritance. The price tag for the federal government is $83 billion over a decade — or, put another way, $83 billion in extra debt over a decade.

Mr. Sanders wants to roll back the GOP reform — and more. He would insist that estates worth more than $3.5 million pay at least 45 percent on money over that threshold, with higher tax brackets scaled to the size of the fortune in question. The rate would be 77 percent — the top rate from 1941 to 1976 — on estates worth more than $1 billion. Because such a plan would spur estate planners to seek legally creative ways to avoid inheritance taxes, Mr. Sanders would also close some loopholes currently used as tax avoidance vehicles. Mr. Sanders estimates that his plan would raise $315 billion over a decade.

That revenue is badly needed. Federal debt as a share of the economy has spiked. Rising generations face huge challenges paying for the health care and pensions of their retiring parents. Meanwhile, the very wealthiest Americans have done extremely well in recent decades, with a drift toward an ever-higher concentration of national wealth at the top. Weak inheritance taxes have contributed to this trend. Critics charge that the estate tax taxes income twice, first when it is earned and second when it is inherited. Yet it also serves as a backstop against avoidance of other types of taxation, in which the wealthy excel.

Rich heirs would still be rich after paying a Sanders tax. But their unearned head start over their less fortunate cohort would be shorter, and the government would have more resources to help promote opportunity for everyone else.


__________________________________________________________________________

• Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the Editorial Board. The board includes: Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt; Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jackson Diehl; Deputy Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus; Associate Editorial Page Editor Jo-Ann Armao, who specializes in education and District affairs; Jonathan Capehart, who focuses on national politics; Lee Hockstader, who writes about immigration, and political and other issues affecting Virginia and Maryland; Charles Lane, who concentrates on economic policy, trade and globalization; Stephen Stromberg, who specializes in energy, the environment, public health and other federal policy; David Hoffman, who writes about foreign affairs and press freedom; Molly Roberts, who focuses on technology and society; and editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. Op-ed editors Michael Larabee, Robert Gebelhoff and Mark Lasswell; letters editor Jamie Riley; international opinions editors Elias Lopez, Karen Attiah and Christian Caryl; international opinions writer Jason Rezaian; digital opinions editor James Downie; operations editor Becca Clemons; editor and writer Christine Emba; and digital producer and writer Mili Mitra also take part in board discussions. The board highlights issues it thinks are important and responds to news events, mindful of stands it has taken in previous editorials and principles that have animated Washington Post editorial boards over time. Articles in the news pages sometimes prompt ideas for editorials, but every editorial is based on original reporting. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don't have any role in news coverage.

__________________________________________________________________________

Related to this topic:

 • Catherine Rampell: Elizabeth Warren wasn't the first candidate to propose a wealth tax. Trump was.

 • The Washington Post's View: Elizabeth Warren wants a ‘wealth tax’. It might backfire.

 • The Washington Post's View: How House Democrats can advocate for a fairer, more effective tax system

 • David Moscrop: Canada doesn't have an inheritance tax. For the sake of democracy, that needs to change.

 • Jim Goodman: Stop pretending the estate tax has anything to do with us family farmers


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanderss-estate-tax-plan-would-reduce-the-federal-debt-and-help-even-the-playing-field/2019/02/03/61c41caa-266b-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html
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