Priority: repeal the estate tax

Regular readers will know my opinion of repealing the estate tax:

It shows what slick marketing and a pile of cash can do for you. The Mars, Campbell, and Gallo family fortunes have been used to lobby for repeal of the estate tax, which nobody but the richest of the rich paid much of for the past century. Political marketing consultant Frank Luntz advised Republicans to rebrand the estate tax as a “death tax”. And, presto!, the rubes were suckered into voting against their economic self interest to the great benefit of the genetic lottery winners who stand to inherit the immense fortunes created by their great grandfathers. Other than simple ignorance, it baffles me why a middle-class citizen would think it is a good idea to run up gargantuan debts funded by their Social Security investments so that we can repeal a tax that has a substantial impact only on the very largest fortunes and that does a bit to inhibit the creation of an American aristocracy. Nobody has ever given me a good explanation why, if we are committed to reducing taxes, we should start with the estate tax rather than reducing payroll taxes or income taxes. Even if an heir has a moral claim on the fruits of daddy’s labor, certainly it cannot be a greater moral claim than an individual has on the fruits of his own labor.

Well, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill Frist’s priorities are boggling and, frankly, offensive.

Despite Katrina, Frist Will Call Vote on Estate Tax Repeal

Senate Finance Committee members were informed this morning that Sen. Bill Frist will move forward with a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax next week, likely on Tuesday.

. . .

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has “found that the estate tax encourages wealthy individuals to donate considerably more to charity, since estate tax liability is reduced through donations made both during life and at death.” If there were no estate tax in 2000, for example, “charitable donations would have been between $13 billion to $25 billion lower than they actually were.”