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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index
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To: rrufff who wrote (26307)12/29/2004 9:23:01 AM
From: Elroy JetsonRead Replies (3) of 306849
 
Your suggestions regarding the Estate Tax are both intelligent and reasonable, which almost assures they will not become law. Our model of government, being a republic rather than a democracy, assures the corruption of our representatives by design.

I gather the $10 million dollar exemption would make your proposal revenue neutral? I certainly agree with you that we would be better served without the loopholes for semi-charitable boondoggles - although I have sat on the board of such boondoggles in an effort to make them actually charitable and efficient.

Capitalist economies have always found an annual Wealth Tax necessary to equitably distribute the cost of government services. Our Estate Tax is a less burdensome approximation of this tax.

Unfortunately in our Monetarist economy, where a heavy tax is imposed on savers to pay for a subsidized lending system, an income tax is more attractive. Less fair, but more attractive.

As a consequence we have an income tax which in 2004 imposed an average effective tax rate of 19.6% (according to the CBO) to raise revenues of only 6.8% of the nation's total income, as something like two thirds of the nation's income is conveniently "not taxable" or has gone on walk about.

This certainly places an unfair burden on those dim-witted enough to be paying income tax rates closer to 19.6% than 6.8%. These people have usually made the mistake of working for a living - which is strongly discouraged in a Monetarist economy.

cbo.gov

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