The Paris Hilton Tax Break

I shocked someone recently with my answer for why I thought the Bush era tax breaks should end. I do not hide the fact that I am a liberal to anyone, and when asked a question, sometimes my answers get stereotyped. When I said I think the tax breaks should end, the other person said, “I am sure it is because you think the rich should pay more.” I answered “no, increasing taxes by 3% is such a small amount I cannot understand why anyone would chose to fight over it.” I find it hard for anyone to defend extending the Bush era tax cuts, especially considering how small the actually increase will be. Those who advocate leaving the tax cuts in place ignore evidence that they are the cause of the budget deficits. David Stockman, the legendary Reagan budget chief who presided over the Gipper's supply-side tax cuts, announced that the "debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts." Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who famously helped sell the 2001 Bush tax cuts to Congress, declared them simply "disastrous." Even Republican experts can see that ending the tax cuts can only be beneficial, but there is still a strong vocal minority in Congress that believes the cuts should continue.

For me the most incredible tax almost all right wing nuts are against is the dreaded ESTATE TAX. I find it incredible hard to believe anyone can be against a tax they will never be penalized by and can only benefit from. The group of people that are against the estate tax are the group of people that have little to no hope of ever making it into the class that will pay this tax. The fact that only 2 out of 1000 estates will own any tax, why would the other 998 fight to free them of the burden, only to inevitable have their income tax or some other tax increased to make up the short-fall of no estate tax. This is where my answer to my friend baffles him and forces him to agree with me. First the mega wealthy have ways of passing on their wealth to the next generation and rarely have the whole estate tied up and taxed. Second, I cannot see how anyone can complain about inheriting one billion verses two billion dollars, while that is a lot of money; keep in mind that the heir did not earn it. Rather they were lucky enough to have the misfortune of being born into a rich family and fortune smiled on them.

Again it simply does not make sense to me to be so up in arms over a tax that will not affect the vast majority of people. I think we have better issues to take and complain about, especially the sales tax and other crazy taxes the state gets away with assessing to us. My final word and food for thought, why should people that go out and work and sweat pay more in taxes than those who have it fall into their laps.