Speaking the Truth about the Estate Tax

The GOP message machine is a marvel, and there is no better example then their ability to convince the average mook that the estate tax will cost them money.

Last night the Ds pulled off a big victory in the Senate defeating the GOP estate tax gutting.

Kevin Drum has a very good post up on just how effective the GOP estate tax con has been. We all need to read it, and memorize the data on the estate tax for cocktail party use.

Here is the crux,

There's an abstract sense in which every small business "could be" affected by the estate tax, but in reality virtually none of them actually are. The CBO estimates that even under current law a mere 485 small businesses are affected by the estate tax each year — note that that's not 485 thousand or 485 million, it's 485 — and if the exemption were raised to $3.5 million, a change that even Democrats endorse, the number would be reduced to 94.

Ninety. Four. The entire business community is practically giving itself whiplash making a U-turn on the hated minimum wage in order to reduce the estate tax on 94 businesses each year. Wow.

And remember, these numbers don't come from some left leaning think tank. These are the numbers from the GOP Congress.

I'm pretty convinced that the estate tax needs to be streamlined and the exemption for a married couple to something around $5 mil. As the estate tax works now, tax attorneys can double the exemption for a married couple so that 3.5 is actually 7.