Jon Perr, of the outstanding site Perrspectives (which I link to in the side menu), has written the most thorough refutation of all the Republican Party's LIES about taxes, especially the LIES told by Willard, that I've ever seen. No fair-minded person could read this and conclude that Willard and his Flying Monkeys (TM) are doing anything other than BS'ing 24/7 on this subject. It's a thing of beauty, and it's right here. Here's one of the many highlights:
[On the Estate Tax, called the "Death Tax" in right-wing propaganda]:
That tax is currently paid by less than a quarter of one percent of American estates each year. Despite Republican mythology to the contrary, the Tax Policy Center reported that in 2009 fewer than 2,700 family farms and businesses owed the tax to Uncle Sam. But thanks to successful Republican brinksmanship, the December 2010 tax cut compromise lowered the rate from 45 percent to 35 percent while boosting the estate tax exemption to $10 million per couple, dropping the number of families impacted to just 40 a year. Now, Mitt Romney wants to make sure those 40 richest estates estimated to now pay the tax each year could keep billions of dollars away from the federal government.
And among those 40 estates would be his own. With President Romney zeroing out the estate tax, his five sons and 18 grandchildren would get a golden shower when their grandparents Mitt and Ann leave the scene. Their payday courtesy of all other American taxpayers could reach $84,000,000, that is, 35 percent of $240 million. (The Romney clan's winnings courtesy of the U.S. Treasury pale in comparison to the billions to be saved by the billionaires who back Mitt Romney and his Super PAC.)
Go read the whole thing. And consider Willard's and the Republican Party's lies on taxes DEMOLISHED.
careful on the math here... the figure "40" refers to business and farms organized as single proprietorships where the owner died in 2011, according to the tax policy center source... so for every one of these there must be at least 30x as many who are living but haven't died yet.... so we are talking 1200 or so. And for every business and farm the tax policy center shows around 35 other family estates affected... if you just look at their "top 1%" category. So assume this will be around 1400 estates a year with assets over $10 million? Your point is still valid of course, but I just wanted to make clear that families like the Romneys would not be among the 40 "businesses and farms" because they will keep personal wealth separate from the companies they own or run. A business that has assets of $5 million or more that fails to incorporate or set up an order of succession is having to pay the estate tax due to its own failure to get a lawyer to formally organize a legally separate entity, I would argue.
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