As Bowers
says, "Trust fund babies rejoice!" Legislation designed to keep the Paris Hiltons of the world from ever doing a day of honest work is set to
pass in the House.
"For almost a century, the estate tax affected only the richest 1 or 2 percent of citizens, encouraged charity, and placed no burden on the vast majority of Americans," they wrote. "A law that constituted the blandest kind of common sense for most of the twentieth century was transformed, in the space of little more than a decade, into the supposed enemy of hardworking citizens all over this country."
The secret of the repeal movement's success has been its appeal to principle over economics. While repeal opponents bellowed that only the richest of the rich would ever pay the estate tax, proponents appealed to Americans' sense of fairness, that individuals have the natural right to pass on their wealth to their children.
The most recent Internal Revenue Service data back opponents' claims. In 2001, out of 2,363,100 total adult deaths, only 49,911 -- 2.1 percent -- had estates large enough to be hit by the estate tax. That was down from 2.3 percent in 1999. The value of the taxed estates in 2001 averaged nearly $2.7 million.
The other side knows how to sell their radical (and destructive) agenda. Our side has been completely ineffective in fighting back. You name it -- environment, women's rights, labor, even the trial lawyers -- they have all failed to push back against the Right's demonization efforts, all to their detriment.
You know you've fucked up when the Estate Tax has become a champion of all people, rather than just Paris Hilton and company.