The Body Snatchers Have Rep. Bill Thomas!

I could not believe my eyes, so I had to read this article several times. The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Bill Thomas, has introduced a bill that would not only NOT kill the death tax, but would increase it. You never compromise on your core values, or people will believe you have none.

I am one who never trusted you, Bill, but you seemed to be with the program. You were doing so well. It can only mean that the body snatchers have taken you to an undisclosed location!

Here is the pudding which has the proof. In case you are not aware, the death tax dies in the year 2011. Unfortunately, it goes back to what it was before the tax cuts: 55% of everything you own after death taxes. Have you not paid taxes on this your whole life? Why, yes. Yes you have. So why does this happen?

It happens because Republican Senators have some crazy idea that the money you make is truly theirs. Why do I say this? I say this because they put in a 10 year clause that this tax cut would be repealled to its unnatural state of taxation at the time this bill is passed.

We had all hoped against hope that sometime along the way, they could get permanency. A piece of advise: Don't hope. Don't trust Democrats to agree with you on taxes. When you have the votes to pass a bill, for crying out loud, PASS IT. Okay, back to the topic.

Rep. Bill Thomas (Calif. R.) has now introduced a compromise bill that will bring Democrats along, because the Senate has blocked any attempt to make this tax permanent. (Can you please tell me why we need a majority, again?)

Under the House's compromise, which probably will come to a vote tomorrow, estates worth as much as $5 million -- $10 million for couples -- would be exempt from taxation indefinitely.

The tax rate on estates worth more than the exemption level up to $25 million would be set at the same tax rates that apply to capital gains -- now 15 percent but scheduled to rise to 20 percent in 2011. The rate for estates worth more than $25 million would be twice the capital gains rate. The bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the estate tax cut would cost the government $279 billion over 10 years.

To lure Democratic senators from Washington state and Arkansas, Thomas included a lucrative tax break for the timber industry, pushing the total cost of the bill to nearly $280 billion. [continue reading]

Alright. I suppose the Club for Growth owes me tens of millions of dollars! Why? They cost me that much money by not employing me. Do you do not understand what I'm saying? GOOD. Then you grasp the concept. They owe me nothing, just as we owe the government nothing. How could the public possibly cost the government anything?

If it was never in your hand to begin with, it isn't yours. What a simple concept, yet so far from even the imagination of our government. Please explain to me why this is not taxation without representation after you are dead? Can you take them court while you're dead? Can you sue the government while you are dead? Can you spend your money while you are dead? It has always been my belief that you cannot take it with you! Boy, what an idiot I've been.

The only people this will actually hurt is the middle class who cannot afford those expensive tax-evastion attorneys. Do you know they asses everything you own? Land, the building on the land, estimations over the past years of the income you would have earned had you live[!], etc, etc.

So you do not think you have $10M? How much is house worth in this market? Five hundred thousand dollars? A million dollars? Is your house on land, or do you float in the air? Do you own your own small business? Do you employ people? The Congress wants to make sure they get a good paycheck from you, now that you are no longer paying taxes!

These animals need to go on a SERIOUS diet...immediately. Bill Thomas, shame on you.

Category: Economics and Policies.