Monday, August 29, 2005

Why I'm all about the "death tax"

So I was listening to the radio on my way home this evening and I heard a senator talking about how unconstitutional the "death tax" is. For those of you who don't know, the estate or death tax as it is known basically says that if you have over 1.5 million dollars when you die, then the government gets half. What those opposed to it are saying is that it goes against the capitalist system that our country is founded on. First of all, even if this were true, I would have no problem. But I think that the estate tax is very much keeping with capitalist economics. If you made over 1.5 million dollars then great, your kids can go and do the same thing. If you were to keep the money and give it to your kids, then you are creating a socialist system just as much as if the government took it. The only difference is that you have made a small communist system that only the rich and thier brood get to be a part of. So here is a completely fictional conversation between an estate tax protestor and a lower class 6th grade kid.

"So lil' Franky, do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes sir, what is the death tax?"

"I'm glad you asked. The death tax is a evil tax that takes money away from the rich so that they can't give it to their families, mistresses, or what have you."

"So they take away all their money? That is mean."

"No not all of it, just half of it."

"But they won't be rich anymore."

"No, they're still rich."

"oh...I guess that would be bad if they took the money and they needed it for something like their business."

"Well, actually the government doesn't take the money till the person is dead."

"So what do they need the money for?"

"Well, they may want to give it to their children so that people like Paris Hilton can go on living their lives anyway they want without having to contribute to society at all. Tht's the American way."

"What's so bad about the government using that money?"

"The government would just waste that money on welfare."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Those people need to work for their money instead of just leeching off the welfare system."

"But isn't that what the rich people are doing?"

"Well_ its different."

"Why?"

"Because rich people use their money for good things like expensive cars, jewelry, and exotic pets that make America beautiful."

"my mom uses welfare for food."

"See, that doesn't make America beautiful does it."

"I guess not"

"So Franky, as you can see the death tax is evil. By the way, we are cutting the music program from your school so I'm going to need that violin back. But don't worry, we are keeping gym. It's important that we force all you akward and easily embarassed kids to compete in arbitrary physical activity then walk around in a room naked. That'll build you character better than a music program anyway."
Dan, 8:02 PM

2 Comments:

Hmm. I wasn't aware that money would go to welfare. Still, perhaps the limit should be higher than 1.5 million. Like 2 million. That way, even if the government takes half, your family is still left with a million.
Blogger Mrs. Sara, at 10:25 AM  
Actually, the death tax is one main reason why the family-farm is becomin extinct. A lot of farm owners die with a lot of assets. The governement swoops in to collect the death-tax, and the heirs of the farm don't have the cash to pay....so they are forced to sell the farm. It usually isn't "cash" assets that the government is taxing, it is "hard" assets. In my opinion, the death tax is nothing short of theft. Also, it isn't only the billionaires that are being taxed by the death tax. There are plenty of middle class Americans who are going to have their inheiritances stolen by the government. It's not that I think that there should be such a wide divide between rich and poor, but the experiment of communism has proven that you can't make the poor un-poor by making the rich poor. The rich, corrupt oligarchy stays rich, while the middle class sinks into poverty just like the rest. If you believe that the government is any good at redistribution of wealth, just take a look at Katrina. Their inefficiency is amazing to watch. And that is what the death tax is: redistribution of wealth.....redistribution to government leaders. It isn't out of the goodness of their hearts.
Blogger scottie, at 1:39 PM  

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