Rep. Shelley Berkley is a Democratic legislator from Nevada, and boy was she mad about the Wall Street bailouts last year:Hundreds of billions of dollars, Berkley said, has gone "to prop up Wall Street banks and investment companies, but little to help people in Las Vegas who are losing their homes."The message Washington needs to hear, Berkley said, is this: "Our community is hurting, and we could use some help."In an interview after the hearing concluded, Warren said she was struck by the disconnect between regular people and the big banking companies. "There was no evidence today that the money is making it past the top levels of the financial institutions," she said. "People are deeply frustrated. They worked hard and played by the rules, and now they can't find anyone to talk to."Sounds like she really thinks the government should be coming to the aid of people who are getting hit hard by the recession. No doubt that's why she introduced a bill to further exempt the super-wealthy from taxes, increasing the deficit by $119 billion. Now, I'm not sure why that would make any sense. But surely someone who thinks that giving handouts to the wealthy is bad should think that all the time, right? The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities released a study of Berkley's bill today, revealing that all of its benefits go to the top
The current rules already are generous. Under them, an individual can inherit on a tax-free basis a trust fund worth $3.5 million, or more than a middle-class family that makes $70,000 a year — and pays taxes on those earnings every year — earns in a lifetime. With the nation on an unsustainable fiscal path and many middle-class families losing their jobs and their homes, it is difficult to justify providing the top 0.2 percent of estates — the estates of the wealthiest 1 in every 500 people who die — with a costly new tax cut so they can pass on even larger inheritances tax-free.Berkley says she supports public investment and opposes bailouts. But she also thinks that people who inherit millions of dollars shouldn't have to pay taxes on it.
-- Tim Fernholz
