No Taxation with Ass-Licking Representation

Here's an interesting tidbit to store in your overflowing "Republicans-suck-rich-guys'-cocks" file: the House of Representatives voted on Thursday to exempt multimillion dollar estates from taxation. Yeah, that sounds about par for the course.

What's the debate here? I'm glad you asked:

President Bush and Republicans in Congress have long pressed to abolish the estate tax, contending it is unfair to tax businesses and farms left to the next generation.

"Americans are being taxed almost every moment of their lives. My goodness, when they are dead, do we have to tax them again?" said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Democrats argued that it is more unfair to give millionaires a tax cut while denying thousands of poor workers a higher minimum wage.

"This is the ultimate values debate," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "It is morally wrong to do this, especially when we are turning down, rejecting, an increase in the minimum wage."

(She's right you know. Last week, Congress rejected an increase in minimum wage for the seventh time since 1997. You know, because the cost of living hasn't gone up at all since 1997, when $5.15/hour wasn't even enough to survive.)

Salon makes a nice point about the estate tax break afforded to the wealthiest Americans: " If the bill gets through the Senate, it's expected to reduce federal revenues by $283 billion between 2006 and 2016. That's roughly the same as the cost of the Iraq war to date." Ugh. Anyone else just throw up?

The House bill was actually a compromise on a proposal that could have seen the total elimination of the estate tax (funny how the rich benefit on the "compromise" while the rest of us get the business-as-usual routine). The truth is that the John Boehner's of the world don't care about you being taxed when you're dead; they simply want the votes – and more importantly, the contributions – of your now wealthy beneficiaries.

Hey douchebags – if you really want your butt buddies to avoid paying vast estate taxes, encourage them to make a planned gift to one of the thousands of charities in this countries (thankfully, Congress does not yet allow tax-free estate gifts to political/lobbyist nonprofits, only 501(c)3 public charities). You can make the gift and see the value of your generosity while you're still alive. How great is that? Your heirs don't pay tax on the funds AND you get to buy some penance for all the back-stabbing you did to accumulate your fortune. Don't know of a worthy charity? Go to Guidestar, Charity Navigator or support PatRoW's favorite fund.

Of course, John Boehner's approach lets Ri¢hie Ri¢h avoid paying taxes on grandpa's inheritance without subtracting a dime for people in need. God bless America.