The Crux Blog: Repealing the Death Tax Will Create a Koch Monarchy Forever

There's a great deal of fear-mongering going on when it comes to the estate tax. ALEC-led Republicans claim that the children of farmers and small businesses are losing their farms and businesses because of the estate tax. Therefore, they argue, it should be abolished completely.

In fact, "just 0.19 percent of all deaths in 2013 resulted in (the payment of estate) tax. When 99.81 percent of all deaths don't create a taxable event, calling it a death tax is mathematically nonsensical." (*1)

The real reason for abolishing the estate tax is for the very rich to not only pass on their fortunes to their children, but to pass on their political power as well. They want to create an America, led by a oligarchy, that's been crowned by the almighty dollar.

If the true concern is to protect small businesses and farmers, why not just increase the amount that's exempt? Currently, "if your estate is worth less than $5.43 million dollars in 2015 (or $10.86 million dollars for a couple), you are exempt from the federal estate tax" anyway. (*1) If the amount exempted were increased to the first $30 million, for example, farms and small businesses would be able to continue running without their heirs having to pay an estate tax. If one's small business is worth over $30 million dollars, it's no longer a small business.

Repealing the estate tax would mean that the only thing the Koch's (and the few other super-rich) would have to do to keep their families in power is to bear children. Then they can pass the entirety of their fortunes to them as well as the political power that goes with it.

It would be the draconian Koch / ALEC political philosophy that Americans would have to live under forever. It would be an America where the rich did nothing except get richer and where the poor will always have to fend for themselves with no government assistance. If the "little people" want social security, or a strong military, or disaster relief, let THEM be the only ones who pay for it!

If the super-rich believe that they are somehow genetically superior at making money, then shouldn't their children be able to make the money paid in estate taxes back easily?

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There are many countries in this world that would not even allow the super-rich to make that kind of money! This one one-thousandth of the population should give back to the country that allowed them to live their fortunate lives.

The most recent bill passed by the GOP-led House to repeal the tax is even more tyrannical than previous attempts. "If it became law, families would be able to pass assets across generations and avoid capital gains taxes on both real gains and so-called phantom income attributed to inflation." (*2)

This would eventually bring the economy to a near halt. "Ed McCaffery, a law professor at the University of Southern California who favors repealing the estate tax, (stated:) 'That is telling old people (to) clutch onto things until they die (to avoid paying all taxes). That’s not how the American economy works.'” (*2)

Since World War II, Japan has had an oligarchic power base that's been passed on to younger family members and the result has been a middle-class economy that has sputtered, nearly frozen, for decades now. Do we want the same thing for America?

If farmers and small businesses are being sold to strangers because of the estate tax, then the REAL solution is to increase the amount exempted--not repeal the entire tax.

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