Robert Reich on the Estate Tax — “Raise it”
by Gaius Publius
Nice short video in Robert Reich’s series “The Big Picture: 10 Ideas to Save the Economy.” This one explains the estate tax and argues for its increase.
The film is about two minutes long, and very clear, as are all Reich’s films in this series. Enjoy:
Some data from the film:
Today the estate tax reaches only the richest two-tenths of one
percent, and applies only to dollars in excess of $10.86 million for
married couples or $5.43 million for individuals.That means if a
couple leaves to their heirs $10,860,001, they now pay the estate tax
on $1. The current estate tax rate is 40%, so that would be 40 cents.Yet according to these members of Congress, that’s still too much.
Who is behind eliminating the estate tax? The “Eighteen Families” identified here (listed on pdf pages 12 and 13). Among them are these fine people, listed with what they own:
- The Blethen family — Seattle Times
- Cox family — Cox Communication
- DeVos family — Amway
- Dorrance family — Campbell’s Soup
- Gallo family — E&J Gallo Winery
- Koch family — Koch Industries; the Republican Party
- Mars family — Mars candy company
- Nordstrom family — Nordstrom department stores
- Walton family — Walmart
- Wegman family — Wegman Food Markets
There are a few others, investors and the like. But these are most of the main ones. Notice how their corporations are the source of their wealth. Put differently, Walmart exists to enrich the Waltons. It only incidentally sells goods from a store to do that.
The House voted in April to eliminate the estate tax. The repeal is not likely to pass in the Senate (so I hear), but anything’s possible with so much money floating around, buying the ears of our bipartisan leaders. After all, I’m starting to hear about enormous sums associated with Fast Track “lobbying,” sums that could easily kick that ball over the goal post.
Are Democratic senators, especially the thirteen who helped pass Fast Track, ready to be “influenced” again? I guess we’ll find out.
GP
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