We Must Support the Republican effort for a Permanent Repeal of the Estate Tax.
There is no moral alternative.
It would be an act of cruelty to owners and employees of funeral homes in cities like Palm Springs or Palm Beach.
As the current law stands, the estate tax will be zero in 2010, but will revert to 55% in 2011. And 2010 is also an election year. Rich, old Republicans will have a problem. They can’t die before November 2. They can’t die after December 31. There are only 59 days during which they will be able to die without paying an estate tax, and still vote as well.
Let’s look at the facts about Palm Beach for an example. Between November and December the population jumps in the town, as the “season’ begins. The average number of residents in those two months is about 20,000. A former investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post found that 87% of the population were millionaires. The fact that the median home value was $1,000,000 in 2000 adds credibility to his numbers The percentage of the population over 65 is 52.6%. After analyzing hundreds of donations in the 2004 Presidential cycle, I found that that there are more than double the number of Republican donors as there were donors to either Kerry or the DNC.
So, there are about 17,400 people in Palm Beach whose estates would be taxed under today’s law. Out of which are about 9,048 over 65. Of whom there are about 6,000 who are Republicans. They won’t want to pay a “death tax” and thus we have about 6,000 people who must be disposed of in the 59 days between Election Day 2010 and New Years Day 2011. Assuming that an equal number were disposed of each day, you are looking at 101 dead bodies per day.
There are no funeral homes in Palm Beach itself; but there are three within a few miles, in West Palm Beach.
If the Republicans cannot rewrite the Estate Tax law that they themselves enacted, each of those funeral homes will have to deal with 33 bodies per day: thirty-three hearses, thirty-three groups of grave diggers, and thirty-three motorcades for each of those 59 days. This is only Palm Beach.
No wonder the Republicans are coupling this issue with Gay Marriage and Flag Burning.
So we have it: a nation in crisis: drunken teenagers from Frist's Tennessee burning the flag, overwhelmed funeral parlors, and people wanting to commit to each other.
It's called class envy (warfare, if you will). It is one of the holiest shrines of the 21st century American left. It is an attempt to convince the "unwashed masses" that it is "fair " to confiscate the wealth of successful, hard working Americans. True, flotsam like the Kennedys will get a free pass, but that's the way America works. A successful person has wealth stolen throughout their life through punitive tax graduation; taken directly from the pages of the Communist Manifesto; (I know you do not like to read unnecessarily, but you really should check it out) then at the very end you would leap between they and their heirs and say "wait, we haven't taken quite enough yet". What is the source of such entitlement? I know that is a rhetorical question. The left believes it is duty bound to decide what is fair.
This thinking smothered half the planet during the last century. You now cheer it on not recognizing that it is in it's death throws.
Marx and Engels chuckle from their graves. "Amerika, whoda thunk" they are saying.
Cheers
Posted by: Rick | June 06, 2006 at 02:57 PM