According to the AP, billionaire Warren Buffett supports keeping the estate tax on the books, recognizing what an infinitesimal portion of the US population is affected by it (roughly 19,000 out of 2.5 million deaths in 2004 -- which is 0.772% if my math is correct):
"I think we need to ... take a little more out of the hides of guys like me," Buffett told the panel.
One of the world's richest men and biggest philanthropists, Buffett has been outspoken against efforts, mostly by Republicans, to repeal or reduce the federal tax on inheritances. Democrats argue that a repeal would amount to a huge windfall for the nation's wealthiest families.
All well and good, yes? Of course it is. Buffett's a brilliant financial mind and he sees the issue objectively. And seen plainly and objectively, it's a clear cut issue (absent the ultra muddied waters of propaganda and press influence, and appalled that they too might have to pay Nancy Pelosi a tax...just to die!) for the vast majority of Americans as well.
But then, and of course this could be simple error, the AP writer decided to clarify the issue politically for her readers....
Understanding that such a clear cut issue could be difficult for the workin' Janes and Joes of the world to get their heads around, the writer generously provides an easy to remember scorecard of sorts.
Those who want to repeal the tax say it is particularly hard on small farms and businesses whose heirs may have to liquidate assets to pay the levies.
Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who wants to repeal the tax, says that according to the IRS, out of nearly 2.5 million deaths in 2004, about 19,300 estates paid the estate tax.
But the panel's top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, wants to keep the tax on the books.
I swear, you can't swing a friggin' dead cat these days without hitting these kinds of harmless errors.
Update [2007-11-14 15:52:5 by mitch2k2]: Well, the article's been amended already. Nothing to see here, move along. Now, interestingly, there's no direct mention of who supports repeal or not:
"Instead of the free market determining when assets are bought or sold, the death tax makes that determination," said the panel's top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. "There is something fundamentally wrong when the government swoops in after a funeral to take a cut of what that person had worked their whole life for, and has already paid taxes on at least once."
Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., citing information from the IRS, said that of nearly 2.5 million deaths in 2004, about 19,300 estates paid the estate tax.