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Inherited wealth shouldn't get a free pass on taxes (According to the LA Times )
Los Angeles Times ^ | 07/06/2010 | Ray Madoff

Posted on 07/06/2010 8:12:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Repeal of the estate tax imposes significant costs on the taxpaying public and promotes concentrations of wealth that harm our democracy.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: deathtax; estatetax; inheritance; taxes
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To: PeterPrinciple
I think one of the original arguments for an estate tax was to avoid the concentration of wealth and power

How much must you have in your estate to qualify as someone the government considers --- a CONCENTRATOR OF WEALTH AND POWER ?

Uncle Sam considers $3.5 Million today as the qualifier. THAT IS AN OLIGOPOLY ?
21 posted on 07/06/2010 9:06:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Let everyone espousing higher taxes and income redistribution, whether they be newsman, pundit or politician, have all their income in excess of $30k per household member be confiscated and half turned over to the Salvation Army, Food Bank, etc., the other half go to paying down the national debt.

Also, all of their vehicles in excess of one per full time working adult shall be confiscated.

While we are at it, all Save the Earth/Carbon Footprint types shall have their electricity cut off, motorized vehicles confiscated, heating/cooling of offices & homes turned off, etc.

Walk the talk! Put your money where your mouths & printing presses have been.

Finally, all the overpopulation complainers, next Tuesday we will stop the world so you can get off. (Actually, I don’t mean that. Some airhead eco-freaks will probably re-start the Buddhist monks solution to the Vietnam war.)


22 posted on 07/06/2010 9:21:24 AM PDT by BwanaNdege ( "Hapana Obama")
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To: SeekAndFind

“You say you want a revolution... well you know”.

LLS


23 posted on 07/06/2010 9:31:26 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ( WOLVERINES!)
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To: SeekAndFind
How much must you have in your estate to qualify as someone the government considers -— a CONCENTRATOR OF WEALTH AND POWER ?

One of the tenants of conservatism is we DO NOT LIVE IN A PERFECT World. We are not idealists. I stated what I thought the concern was in the original law.

I as a conservative am concerned about the concentration of wealth and power, because I know and understand the nature of man. I ALSO stated that the estate tax did not solve this. Please read and think before posting.

You evidently think concentration of wealth and power is ok. Unrestrained capitalism is no better than unrestrained government. Our founders set up a complex system of checks and balances for a reason.

Even God was concerned enough about this to set up the year of jubilee which interestingly enough was never implemented.

24 posted on 07/06/2010 9:45:16 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( Seeking the truth here folks.)
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To: PeterPrinciple
You evidently think concentration of wealth and power is ok.

Nope, didn't say that. I did ask though how much one must possess/invest/save to be considered a concentrator of wealth and power.

Today, I believe the answer is $3.5 Million. Well, the next question is obviously this -- where did we come up with this amount ?

We also have to remember, $3.5 Million might be a heck of a lot of money in say, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. But it is a pittance in a city like NYC or San Francisco.

So back to the question --- what value do we choose to qualify as too much concentration of wealth and power and why ?

Based on what criteria ?
25 posted on 07/06/2010 9:52:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
The United States is a very affluent country, but the wealth is distributed in a highly unequal manner. A few Americans own generate an enormous amount, and a large number of Americans own generate hardly anything at all.
26 posted on 07/06/2010 9:59:01 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Your questions are not good ones.

See my original post.

1) Very few pay.

2) it is an manipulated emotional issue and very few understand it.

3) GETTING RID OF THE ESTATE TAX WILL ACTUALLY INCREASE TAX REVENUE!

4) The estate tax does not accomplish what I think is the original concern.

A tax is a tax whether it is collected as an estate tax, capital gains, or income tax.

My personal preference is to get rid of the estate tax. If the heirs don't want to pay the income tax, they simply don't have to sell the inheritance. We eliminate one dept in IRS and put some lawyers out of work. Will it solve all problems? NO. we will still have concentration of wealth and power, that is why the right to bear arms is so important.

We counter the consolidation of wealth and power through freedom. We were all equal under the law and had equal opportunity. That was the great thing about America, we were not stuck in a “class” and could move up and down the ladder.

27 posted on 07/06/2010 10:22:42 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( Seeking the truth here folks.)
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To: SeekAndFind
* For instance, your earnings are subject to both income and payroll taxes, and that money is taxed again when you pay sales tax on your purchases and property taxes on your home.

my choice to buy....

* It is not dollars that are subject to tax — it is taxpayers. When a person earns $50,000 and then pays his mechanic $2,000 to fix his car, the mechanic cannot avoid taxes by claiming that the money was already subject to tax when earned by his customer.

again...my choice to hire

not my choice to die.
28 posted on 07/06/2010 10:45:20 AM PDT by stylin19a (Never buy a putter until you first get a chance to throw it)
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To: stylin19a
not my choice to die.

Unless of course, you commit suicide... :)
29 posted on 07/06/2010 11:21:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

People who write newspaper articles saying taxes are good should have their incomes double taxed.


30 posted on 07/06/2010 11:38:14 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: SeekAndFind

Covetousness.

Liberals are envious, greedy whiners.


31 posted on 07/06/2010 11:44:37 AM PDT by TruthConquers (Delendae sunt publicae scholae)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

I hope this gnat brain inherits a profitable small business and gets hit with the tax. It’ll wipe him out.

The Joe Robbe family got hammered after Joe died. He was the owner of the Miami Dolphins. His kids inherited the business, but the inheritance tax was so great, they had to sell off the business to raise the cash for the tax.
The inheritance tax was put in place to “soak the rich”, but it catches small business’s and family farms.
It is a very destructive and punative tax that punishes sucess.


32 posted on 07/06/2010 11:57:49 AM PDT by Texas resident (Outlaw fisherman)
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To: Texas resident

It’s the same reason the Wrigley family sold the Chicago Cubs to the Tribune Company several years back.


33 posted on 07/06/2010 12:15:30 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: SeekAndFind

The government shouldn’t be benefiting by the death of a citizen...They didn’t make the money and it was taxed to death during the life of the citizen...


34 posted on 07/06/2010 2:51:33 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: KarlInOhio

‘few years ago a very, very liberal family member was trying to get everyone in the family to put our money in some family trust’.

It’s not a bad idea. That’s what my family has done. My grandpa and grandma did the same, and their kids have done the same as well. They all have shares in the family business.


35 posted on 07/06/2010 4:23:28 PM PDT by BenKenobi (I want to hear more about Sam! Samwise the stouthearted!)
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To: SeekAndFind

How concentrated must wealth be to be “too” concentrated? Only your commissar knows for sure.


36 posted on 07/06/2010 4:29:33 PM PDT by Chaguito
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To: Gay State Conservative
You know..I don't usually do this to a Freeper but here goes...your post sounds so much like those in this country who haven't acheived anything or saved anything that I wonder what you're doing here on a forum where most of the members have.

Glad you expressed it. We get nowhere if we don't discuss what we're preaching, or just preach to the choir.

Please examine your statement and see that it doesn't make sense.

Inheritance is something that provides benefit to someone who hasn't achieved anything to get it. Also, if one is going to achieve and advance in the economy, then a progressive income tax inhibits that. Someone who isn't into achievement would want the status quo, where income is taxed progressively. Poor stay poor; rich stay rich...anyone trying to get ahead gets whomped.

Yes, there would be less incentive to spend, and my suggestion would boom the economy too fast and too falsely (people spending instead of saving), and it makes sense to have some income-based tax.

Those with greater assets gain more benefit from the protections of our common defense, etc. Imagine you're sharing a residence who has a collection of Fabergé eggs--so he wants to buy a very pricey security system. If you have relatively little to lose, why should those costs be split evenly with you?

37 posted on 07/06/2010 4:41:48 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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