A new perspective on the estate tax

taxation without representation. They are about EXACTLY what is happening today and concern taxing for the benefit of others (also known as SOCIAL PROGRAMS). Your blatently incorrect assumption makes one wonder if you read the quotes or if you have ever "wasted" your time actually reading what our nation's founders had to say during and immediately after its founding.

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents...." --James Madison

Constituents tends to indicate that the Congress spoken of is REPRESENTING someone.

If you would only READ rather than skimming you would not taste the foot so often.

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. ... A wise and frugal government...shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. ... Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated. ... Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands?" --Thomas Jefferson

Again speaking not of no representation but of the unconstitutional use of taxes forced upon constituents by their representatives.

The rest are also of the same vein--such taxation is NOT within the limited scope of the constitution.

"For an illustration of the difference between proportionate and progressive taxation, we can look to the Bible. There, tithing is explained as the economic basis of our Judaic-Christian religions. The Lord says you shall contribute one-tenth and He says, 'If I prosper you 10 times as much you will give 10 times as much.' That is proportionate -- but look what happens today when you start computing Caesar's share. A man of average income who suddenly prospered ten times as much would find his personal income tax increased 43 times." --Ronald Reagan

I am unable to find anything in the bible that indicates that Jesus went around saying "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar?s and when you die render it all or as much as he wants of it". Can you (bet you can't!)?

I can find many instances in which inheritance was spoken of and nothing was mentioned with splitting any inheritance with Caesar, or the priests or the village elders or anyone else and I'll bet you can too (bet you won't try as it would be self defeating).

Give all that you have to the poor and follow me.

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wealth. It was not a generalized teaching such as 'Love one another'.

between the rich young ruler and the rich old guy?

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wealth become his God. In fact, he needs his money to meet the needs of his family far more than the young guy with few responsibilities. Jesus told us that, if we don't take care of our families properly, we are worse than the unsaved person.

Just because a person is old and rich doesn't mean that the money isn't his god.

Jesus understood what was important to the rich young ruler. He had fallen into a common trap. He figured that, since he had obeyed the dos and don'ts of the religious laws, he was doing all that was required. He also believed that God smiled on him because he was rich. It was believed that God's favor was shown with good things. Reminds me of some of the televangelists that say that if you are poor or sick that your faith isn't great enough.

OK, this isn't going well. What I'm trying to say is that the longer you've had wealth, the less likely you are to give it up. The rich young ruler had money all his life. The rich old guy has probably had it even longer. He probably got rich by grabbing as much as he can.

I understand the necessity of exempting family farms and businesses (to a certain extent) so they don't have to be sold. Of course, people being people, the multibillion dollar business or the estate (redefined as a family farm) could be in that category just like millionaires getting farm subsidies. It is my understanding that people with large estates in Great Britain get insurance policies that pay the very large estate taxes. Sounds like a good solution to me.

I have to go get dressed for work now. I'll be in and out for a while. I worked yesterday and I won't get another day off until May 1.

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same problem as the rich young guy. If he does, if he has made his wealth his God, he should do exactly what Jesus told the rich young guy to do. If he does, then the inheritance tax question is moot.

My point is twofold. First, Jesus did not teach that all wealthy people should sell everything and give it to the poor. His encounter with the young man revolved around what was important to the young man rather than the specific issue of wealth. Second, Jesus did not say that the state should take all your money after you die. He said to give it to the poor. The state doesn't get anything except what legitimately belongs to it.

tomb and just prior to departing this earth but to get people to follow him in life which wouldn't be associated with any inheritance.

Even if we wanted to grant that to you though it still wouldn't equate to "give everything you have to Caesar and follow me into a government welfare state".

We all swim together or we all sink individually. Don't y'all fear backlash from the left at all? The logic is simple and overwhelming, and the tipping point is closer than you might imagine. One more little Leona, or one too many itty Marie Antoinettes... and POW! It's getting worse and worse.

revenge as they rush the ramparts of ....

No, no. That was Les Miserables. That was imaginary.

Switch back to reality.

There are not hordes of brave leftists.

Are you calling John F'n Kerry a coward !!? Of course, it depends on the size of your horde.

... leave it all to Micro Soft the cat with his child as executor.

Evie

modern society would let the surviving parent marry all the kids. Wait! We need new common property laws. How do multiple surviving spouses divvy up the goods? I think the ACLU will be needed to intervene to write new law for the nearest sympathetic judge.

This is one of the largest mistakes Liberals make with taxes. "Whenever one taxpayer is permitted to pay less, someone else must be asked to pay more". NOT TRUE. As was true with JFK and RWR, tax cuts created growth, created more taxpayers, not just the same earners paying more. Tax cuts are NOT a zero sum balance. Static vs Dynamic.

You'll be spouting how zero taxes will raise the mostest revenues in a minute.

as you can expect from something drawn on a cocktail napkin.

The only things certain in the Laffer curve are the ends, 100% taxation, and 0% taxation, all the rest is unfounded speculation. Every other industrialized country in the world has higher taxes than the US and seem to be doing just fine, most problems in those countries, as in the US are short term problems that will solve themselves eventually. I am thinking about Germany suffering under the burden of reunification, or Japan from its banking collapse. France does extraordinarily well with high taxes, a large extra-taxation economy, subsidies here there and everywhere, and social programs up the wazoo.

What is so fragile about the American economy that it can't stand even a little bit of taxation? You can't tax corporations, you'll slow growth and drive them away; can't tax rich people, you'll slow investment; can't tax production, you'll make the US uncompetitive. And yet every other country carries a much larger tax burden and seems to be doing fine in the long term. Germany used to kick the US butt economically, so did Japan and both had higher tax rates. This whole controversy is all Voodoo Economics, worthy of cocktail bar conversation after half a dozen drinks with diagrams on wet napkins and nothing else.

Rob Boyter

survey. The level of innovation is very low in high tax countries. I can't think of any technology in which France is leading the way. That's one problem for the French language. There's nothing written in French that's really worth reading.

BTW, I checked unemployment rates to see how well those European economies are doing. Latest figure for France is 9.4%, Germany 9%, USA 5.5%. I guess they showed us about that dumb old Laffer Curve.

up. They want to sleep comfortably within their ignorance.