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  #11  
Old 08-15-2012, 07:56 AM
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Yes, the right is brain dead.

The pendulum only swings wide when it's coming back the other way D

I understand that the estate tax can help prevent a feudal system. I also know that it is (or was) wrong to take other people's stuff.

So balance becomes vitally important. Right now the rich are under attack, from the campaign anyway (the Dems did extend the tax cuts after all), someone needs to speak up and point out that it is much preferable to live in a wealthy society than a poor one.

Keep in mind I was responding to a suggestion that wealth be capped at a couple mil. That is radical!

You can't get rid of the wealthy anyway - they'll just move. And the balance of power will move with them. It's a cold cold world

Pete
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  #12  
Old 08-15-2012, 08:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by piece-itpete View Post
Yes, the right is brain dead.

The pendulum only swings wide when it's coming back the other way D

I understand that the estate tax can help prevent a feudal system. I also know that it is (or was) wrong to take other people's stuff.

So balance becomes vitally important. Right now the rich are under attack, from the campaign anyway (the Dems did extend the tax cuts after all), someone needs to speak up and point out that it is much preferable to live in a wealthy society than a poor one.

Keep in mind I was responding to a suggestion that wealth be capped at a couple mil. That is radical!

You can't get rid of the wealthy anyway - they'll just move. And the balance of power will move with them. It's a cold cold world

Pete
Did not our founding fathers agree on extreme wealth not able to pass to the next generation. They ere well aware of the consequences.

The middle and lower income classes are the ones under attack, the rich are doing just fine!


As for moving away then let them go just keep the assets earn here!









Barney
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  #13  
Old 08-15-2012, 08:34 AM
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Originally Posted by finnbow View Post
The estate tax makes sense to me, at least after passing a reasonable threshold (e.g., $1 million). Otherwise, it helps perpetuate a ruling class instead of a meritocracy.
Makes sense to me. I agree, the threshold should be high. Somehow, I don't see inheriting $1,000 and a beer cap collection from a dead uncle as "...perpetuating a ruling class"....
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  #14  
Old 08-15-2012, 08:35 AM
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I don't know what the Founders did re: estate tax. Did the US split their property between all their children back then, or just the eldest son?

Pete
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Old 08-15-2012, 08:38 AM
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Yes, the rich are under attack.......And I'm loving it.

As I've stated in another thread, and in a different context;

"Turnabout is fair play."
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  #16  
Old 08-15-2012, 09:04 AM
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One of the issues that eb raises in his extensive (and helpful) discussion of the estate tax is the matter of philanthropy. Most of us, I think, donate to causes and organizations in which we have an interest and who represent our views. When corporations develop their community involvement/corporate giving policies it generally inheres to what many characterize as 'strategic philanthropy.' In other words, corporations donate to causes and organizations that they believe, in the long run, will benefit their business. There's nothing inherently wrong with this; it's their money and they can do with it as they choose.

The same can be said of individual giving writ personal. Although individuals are more likely to give to personal causes that offer a benefit to them that is at the very best indirect.

My point in mentioning this is that one of the industries hardest hit by the 'Great Recession' is the nonprofit sector. Corporate giving is down; individual giving is down. How much of the reduction in individual giving can be attributable to the 'wealthy' from what I understand is relatively small. In other words, the wealthy continue to donate.

What has the foregoing got to with the estate tax? Only this (and this is my opinion): Taxation, unless it reaches a point where it becomes punitive (perhaps greater than 50%; a point made I believe in the income tax history thread) doesn't negatively impact the wealthy to any significant degree.

The question then is: Is the estate tax 'fair?'

My view is that perhaps above a certain relatively modest threshold ($1 million?) yes.

What should be the level of taxation? Perhaps best determined by better minds than mine.

Sorry for the ramble.
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  #17  
Old 08-15-2012, 09:30 AM
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In order to avoid estate taxes rich individuals put good chunks of their money into trusts because the trusts live on after they die. That is normal estate planning, so it is a ruse for some of the people that signed The Giving Pledge to say that they were always into philantropy. That's not exactly true.

It is also important to see what the trust charter requires the trustees to do. For example the pledge might say that they give to an organization that teaches the importance of economic ideals to school children. OK, wtf is that in English? Oh, the trust pumps schools full of Ayn Rand books. Thanks dick face.

Hearst could have said that he gave all his money away and it would be true. He gave it to a trust. The trick is that the trust's goal is to let him run his company from the grave. He's dead. He should get over it and let somebody else play. Luckily there is a law that requires his trust to expire when the last heir dies that was alive at the same time Hearst.

The egos of some of these pricks is unimaginable. They truly are mentally ill. How the Tea Party wants to be under their thumbs befuddles the hell out of me. Or maybe the Tea Partiers think they have a chance at taking a seat at the blue bloods' table. What a joke.
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  #18  
Old 08-15-2012, 09:34 AM
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There are plenty of Democrat leaning foundations. I'm seeing less and less of a centrist here

Pete
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  #19  
Old 08-15-2012, 10:12 AM
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I can see both sides and that is a centrist quality. But in the voting booth there is no middle button. I have to pick a side. No?
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  #20  
Old 08-15-2012, 10:31 AM
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Agreed

Pete
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