Grassley Signs On To Estate Tax Bill That Could Exempt His Entire Fortune While Affecting Few Others
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 19th, 2010 4:36 am by HL
Grassley Signs On To Estate Tax Bill That Could Exempt His Entire Fortune While Affecting Few Others
President Bush’s massive tax cuts for the rich included a provision that repealed the estate tax in 2010. The tax has yet to be reinstated, though the House passed a bill late last year to set the tax at the 2009 level. Under the 2009 rate, estates worth less than $3.5 million pay no […]
President Bush’s massive tax cuts for the rich included a provision that repealed the estate tax in 2010. The tax has yet to be reinstated, though the House passed a bill late last year to set the tax at the 2009 level. Under the 2009 rate, estates worth less than $3.5 million pay no taxes at all, while larger estates pay 45 percent of anything above that threshold. As a bill to reinstate the estate tax is negotiated in the Senate, some senators have been pushing to cut this tax on millionaires to 35 percent, while raising the exemption to $5 million.
Today, the National Journal reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) signed on to the plan, which could represent an enormous tax break for his family. Grassley is worth between $2.1 and $5.2 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, so his entire estate could be exempted under a $5 million exemption.
Moreover, Grassley’s proposed tax cut would affect few families other than his own. Under the 2009 rate, 99.8 percent of estates owe no estate tax at all. If these levels were made permanent, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out that “[o]nly three percent of taxes owed” would be from estates that are, like Grassley’s, worth less than $5 million. The vast majority of current estate tax revenue comes from the “extremely wealthy,” with 62.5 percent of revenue coming from estates worth more than $20 million.
Beyond this, the cut would cost $60 to $80 billion in lost revenue, which would have to be offset with spending cuts. As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo noted, it’s a huge waste to spend $60-80 billion in order to help the 0.2 percent of households that pay estate taxes while we have soaring deficits and high unemployment.
Rep. Weiner goes after Goldline and its ?unholy alliance? with Glenn Beck.
One of the consequences of the successful effort to persuade large corporations to stop running ads on Fox News host Glenn Beck’s TV and radio programs is that the right-wing “rodeo clown” has been left with only small companies advertising gimmicky products like faulty “survival” seed banks. 125 advertisers have abandoned him so far. […]
One of the consequences of the successful effort to persuade large corporations to stop running ads on Fox News host Glenn Beck’s TV and radio programs is that the right-wing “rodeo clown” has been left with only small companies advertising gimmicky products like faulty “survival” seed banks. 125 advertisers have abandoned him so far. One of Beck’s remaining and most reliable sponsors is Goldline, “which has made its name profiting — with the help of conservative talkers — off fees for buying and selling gold against public anxiety.” Media Matters has documented how Beck and other conservative pundits frequently “plug gold” as a hedge against supposed economic collapse, while simultaneously profiting from ads run by companies like Goldline that sell the metal. Now, Politico’s Ben Smith reports that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is “going after” Goldline and its right-wing pundit backers:
A Weiner aide forwards his [press] advisory, headed, “‘Goldline’ Rips Off Consumers, Profits Off Public Fears, Likely Violates Federal Law.”
“The company has formed an unholy alliance with conservative pundits to drive a false narrative and play off public fears in order to sell its products”, says the release.
While it’s unclear what Weiner has planned, Smith reports that Goldline is girding for a fight against Weiner’s attack on “Goldline International and Glenn Beck.” The company has made top officials available for comment, and sent out its own press release saying, “We are not sure what exactly Weiner will be saying but we do know that it will not be favorable to either Goldline or any of the conservative personalities that support Goldline.”
