Bought And Paid For
by digby
Sebastian Mallaby and Paul Krugman both have columns today excoriating the Senate for what it’s about to do on behalf of useless parasites like Paris Hilton and Brandon Davis. It is infuriating that some Democrats are signing on to this bullshit.
For most of the past century, the case for the estate tax was regarded as self-evident. People understood that government has to be paid for, and that it makes sense to raise part of the money from a tax on “fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits,” as Theodore Roosevelt put it. The United States is supposed to be a country that values individuals for their inherent worth, not for their inherited worth. The estate tax, like a cigarette tax or a carbon tax, is a tool for reducing a socially damaging phenomenon — the emergence of a hereditary upper class — as well as a way of raising money.
But now the House has voted to repeal the estate tax, and the Senate may do the same this week. Republicans are picking up support from renegade Democrats, such as Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Max Baucus of Montana. Several more may go over to the dark side if a “compromise” bill, which would achieve nearly everything that abolitionists dream of, is introduced in the Senate. President Bush, who has already muscled a temporary repeal of the estate tax into law, would be delighted to sign a bill making abolition permanent.
So much for the “populism” of these Red State hypocrites. There can be no reason for doing this other than to pay off contributors. If a Democrat from Nebraska can’t make the argument that he or she refuses to give tax breaks to movie stars then he or she needs to get into another line of business.
Krugman writes:
The campaign for estate tax repeal has largely been financed by just 18 powerful business dynasties, including the family that owns Wal-Mart.
You may have heard tales of family farms and small businesses broken up to pay taxes, but those stories are pure propaganda without any basis in fact. In particular, advocates of estate tax repeal have never been able to provide a single real example of a family farm sold to pay estate taxes.
Nonetheless, the estate tax is up for a vote this week. First, Republicans will try to repeal the estate tax altogether. If that fails, they’ll offer a compromise that isn’t really a compromise, like a plan suggested by Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, that would cost almost as much as full repeal, or a plan suggested by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, that is only slightly cheaper.
In each case, the crucial vote will be procedural: if 60 senators vote to close off debate, estate tax repeal or something close to it will surely pass. Any senator who votes for cloture but against estate tax repeal — which I’m told is what John McCain may do — is simply a hypocrite, trying to have it both ways.
But will the Senate vote for cloture? The answer depends on two groups of senators: Democrats like Mr. Baucus who habitually stake out “centrist” positions that give Republicans almost everything they want, and moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island who consistently cave in to their party’s right wing. Will these senators show more spine than they have in the past?
In the interest of stiffening those spines, let me remind senators that this isn’t just a fiscal issue, it’s also a moral issue. Congress has already declared that the budget deficit is serious enough to warrant depriving children of health care; how can it now say that it’s worth enlarging the deficit to give Paris Hilton a tax break?
I also think it’s important to not that an active duty Army captain with two years experience makes $38,656 a year. A private first class makes $15,282. God forbid that Paris should be asked to kick in a piece of her inheritance to pay the bills this country owes — bills which include those salaries. What’s this country ever done for her? (And anyway, the price of a mojito at Club Butter is just ridiculous these days.)
And, by the way, if John “I’m Teddy Roosevelt reincarnated” McCain does do some shenanigans with this vote, I think we should hire a skinny blond in huge sunglasses to follow him around blowing kisses and thanking him profusely. (It sounds like a job for the Billionaires.)
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