By Ezra
I'm often confused by the energy in the anti-estate tax movement. I mean, a somewhat serious tax on massive inheritances seemed so broadly, obviously supportable to me that I could never quite understand how politicians and activists were generating such enthusiasm for its repeal. But this report (via The Labor Blog) from Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy clarified things in a hurry:
"Members of a handful of super-wealthy families have quietly helped finance and coordinate a massive campaign to repeal the estate tax.
These families – the members of which own the first and third largest privately held companies in the United States and hold about a 40 percent share in the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart – stand to save a whopping $71.6 billion if their bid succeeds.
They have relied on their fortunes, the resources of their companies and their business connections to marshal a massive anti-estate tax juggernaut that has reported nearly a half-billion dollars in lobbying expenditures ($490.3 million) since 1998."
Republicans, and certain vichy Democrats, love to warn against the dangers of class warfare. And they're right, it is dangerous. But only to the working class, who are being routed in a conflict that the intelligentsia keeps assuring us isn't actually happening. And this report won't change that consensus. The Joe Kleins of the world will hunch down, kindly tousle our hair, and assure all of us that, figuratively speaking, there is no spoon. And soon, there will be no estate tax, either.
