Posted on 12/11/2007 6:24:18 PM PST by digger48
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday made a strong case for keeping the inheritance tax in place, saying it is a key to ensuring the United States remains a meritocracy.
At a joint appearance with billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Clinton said the inheritance tax, due to be temporarily repealed in 2010, was a symbol of "what kind of society we are."
"The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system _ where we expect people to make it on their own _ to be, over time, dominated by inherited wealth," she said. "That we do believe that people should have to get out there and make their way, to a great extent."
Buffet, one of America's wealthiest men, told the Senate Finance Committee last month that the inheritance tax should remain in place.
Estates worth up to $2 million this year and next will be exempt from the federal estate tax. Portions of estates above that threshold will be taxed at 45 percent. In 2009, the exemption level rises to $3.5 million, and by 2010 the estate tax will be repealed _ but only for a year.
Unless Congress changes the law, the tax returns in 2011 with an exemption threshold of only $1 million and a top tax rate of 55 percent.
Democrats argue that a repeal would amount to a huge windfall for the wealthiest families.
Buffet said Republicans, who have led the effort to repeal the tax, "are going to keep the farmers out in front of the argument" as a public-relations ploy. Proponents of repeal often argue that it will mean families will lose control of farms and small companies.
But, Buffet said, only six-tenths of 1 percent of taxable estates in 2007 were farms.
"It's not as though people will be destitute," Clinton said.
In a subsequent appearance on the Fox Business Network, Clinton repeated her support for keeping the tax.
Asked whether she would let cuts in capital gains taxes expire, Clinton said: "I am more focused on preventing the repeal of the estate tax and returning to what I think are fairer, more effective tax rates for the wealthiest."
"While people like my husband and I have enjoyed a great series of gifts from the Bush administration, that is not what has happened to the vast majority of Americans," she said.
Her remarks drew a rebuke from California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring.
"If Hillary Clinton wants to talk about stacking the deck, she needs to look no further than her flawed economic policies that would raise taxes on the back of hardworking American families," Nehring said.
The Clinton-Buffet appearance was their second this year, following on a similar session in June in New York.
Like that appearance, Tuesday's question-and-answer session was a fundraiser that brought in $1 million for the campaign of Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner. From San Francisco, she headed to Sacramento to pick up another $300,000.
In San Francisco, the biggest campaign donors got special treatment from Clinton and Buffet, including an extended picture-taking session that caused their "conversation on the economy" to begin later than scheduled.
Clinton played moderator and questioned the man known as the Oracle of Omaha about the economy. Some of the inquiries came from the audience of 1,500.
Buffet and Clinton warned of the dangers of a growing gap between rich and poor, and a tax system that disproportionately helps people Buffet called "these super-rich" _ himself included.
"A fire hose has been showered on me, and nothing has trickled beneath," Buffett said.
Buffett indirectly blamed the Bush administration for a tax code he said is out of whack.
"In the last seven-eight years what has happened is that the super-rich have gotten a huge break," said Buffett, one of the world's richest people with a net worth of $52 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He is chairman and CEO of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., an investment company he founded.
Both Buffett and Clinton warned of political and economic instability that could come from the income and trade gaps, and from expanding foreign ownership of American assets and property.
"There's a growing sense that it's not working for the average American," the New York senator said. "If people feel that for whatever reason the deck is stacked against them, then that does feed the instability."
Flaming hypocrite. If he's so concerned, let him set the tone by giving away some of those billions.
I'm trying to start a Christian school in South America for the lower middle class. I could use $3 million to get things rolling. How do I get in touch with Brother Warren, to help him with his concern to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
And BTW who says that an inheritance of $1 million is a "rich" inheritance? What a crock!
I am all for getting rid of the death tax, even though it would require me to practice more in other areas to make up for the loss of work.
I laugh when I hear the left say very few people and only the rich get his with the estate tax.
I don't know anything about Buffet, other than he's rich. What I wonder is, how many American's jobs has he sent to China to make a bigger profit? It just seems to me that if he doesn't want to leave his wealth to his offspring, why work to make more money, especially if he's taking away the livelihood of poor Americans.
Please note that Buffet donate most of his money to the RICH!!!!!
Buffet, like Soros or Gates, don’t give a damn about the hard-working Americans in this country. And none of them have done anything to donate any of their extreme wealth to any hard-working Americans. Why? Because they are all commie pinkos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been a tax professional for over 30 years and have heard all the same lies...Buffet is the richest commie in our country whose forked tongue would have everyone else’s huge estate be subject to large taxes but then allow him to transfer most of his HUGE estate tax-free to Bill Gates’ private foundation to be doled out by the world’s richest liberal.
“The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system - where we expect people to make it on their own - to be, over time, dominated by inherited wealth,” she said. “That we do believe that people should have to get out there and make their way, to a great extent.”
Give me a break. Dims have always supported a welfare system that encourages the exact opposite of a meritocracy. Under the welfare system, women are encouraged to have more children to bring in the checks. Because welfare has no time limit, you can be on the doll your whole life and never accomplish anything.
Dims want to control the wealth of families, in exchange for political influence and power. They would have everyone start from scratch and they could doll out the scraps.
Oh, and I'm sure all of those were spontaneous, unplanned, and random. < \sarcasm>
Thanks.
For the rest of us who actually do REAL work to earn a living, a vacuum hose has been SHOVED in our wallets, you jackass....
We don't all create Tax-Exempt Corporations to protect our money and further the "cause".....we try to keep it in OUR families to improve our lives WITHOUT OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE.
Liberals are the richest among us - and yet they pander in the most pathetic way.
Take Oprah. She made her billions by talking to white women, and when she goes before a black audience, she "talks black" like Kentucky Fried Hillary did.
The NY Post wrote about it. Oprah said something like this:
Don't be tellin me a black man can't no do nuthin!
Give me a break. Of course, Ophrah could finance her own Government Program.<p>She collects mansions the way some people collect stamps.<p><img src=">
Marxism to the rescue! /sarc
Buffett needs to join Jimmah Cartier in the STFU Club.
"The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system _ where we expect people to make it on their own _ to be, over time, dominated by inherited wealth," she said. "That we do believe that people should have to get out there and make their way, to a great extent."There are so many loopholes in the tax codes that wealth can be passed from generation to generation amongst such families as the Rockefellers.Buffet, one of America's wealthiest men, told the Senate Finance Committee last month that the inheritance tax should remain in place.
Of course, ordinary Americans get socked in taxes
What is it, and estate tax or an inheritance tax?It is actually an estate tax.Why does it matter? What's the difference?An inheritance tax would be like an income tax on inheritances, taxing an inheritance you got of over, say, $1M dollars. OTOH the estate tax taxes the estate before you inherit it - and if you and your four siblings are heirs to $1M, each individual only inherits $0.2M. IOW, the estate tax is an unfair inheritance tax, more burdensome on larger families who inherit less and see just as much of their parents' estate go to the tax man.
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