Why do Republicans still claim that the average American has to worry about the estate tax?

anyone who does even the smallest amount of research knows that the estate tax only applies to high income household of more than 5 million dollars. And the state has to total more than 5 million dollars as its net worth in order to be subjected to the estate tax.

yet Republicans in their efforts to get the estate tax repealed repeatedly tell poor and working-class Americans that they're being robbed by the government because of the estate tax. 80% of Americans maybe more don't have States worth 5 million dollars and yet they've been brainwashed into thinking that the government's going to make them pay taxes if they leave anything to their kids.

And let me get one thing straight the Republican who make these claims know that it isn't true. They're intentionally lying to the American people in order to get support for abolishing the estate tax. This is how the Republican party works they brainwash the working-class into supporting things that have nothing to do with them, by making them think that they are the ones being affected by it.

 

1. Regardless of whether someone thinks they will have to pay the estate tax, once they start a business, they better be planning for it, and this is a long-term plan. This is massively expensive, onerous and forecloses opportunities that could create jobs and help employees earn more. It's not the tax itself that costs so much, it's the planning and professional fees. It is a net drain on the economy far greater than it raises in any collected taxes.
2. Family businesses, farms, 30 million or so of them in the U.S. can easily be appraised at > 5 million, triggering taxes that can't be paid, leading to liquidation and immense waste, loss of value, loss of jobs, that need not ever occur.
3. Flip a coin and may get the fair IRS appraiser... or may get a Karen women's studies major who doesn't like your perfectly legal pornography or "how to pick up women" business. Appraisals are notoriously random.

The estate tax is a net loser for the government. Don't buy the wealth resentment mongering by your public union newsletter, that's what this is all about because even the scumbags that run the gov-edu-union-contractor-grantee-trial lawyer-MSM Complex know full well the government doesn't do very well if at all collecting estate taxes. It's pure resentment fodder and propaganda, should be abolished instantly.

I practice tax law fairly regularly, and I make more money from it under higher estate taxes, so am speaking against my own financial self-interest.

 

Mainly because of farmers. A good size farm can easily qualify and the estate tax can cause the farm to have to be sold rather than remain the family.

 

FIVE MILLION DOLLARS...before the estate tax touches you

 

Nonsense..you sure aren't a farmer.

A farm that can't produce enough revenue to cover the estate tax but still is subject to it..is not a viable entity in the first place although it holds substantial land.

Sell off a few acres and it's covered

 

Lol. Farm management expert, are you now.....?

 

We inherited a several hundred acres which we share crop to a much bigger farm. The old man died and the sons struggled to keep the farm going. For a while it was questionable whether they would be able to keep the farm which likely meant that we would sell our few acres.

"Selling off a few acres" requires new fence lines, new fixed pumps for the irrigation and a survey. I guess they could always sell a few more acres to cover the cost of selling off a few acres.

Now I know why I put you on ignore.

 

Nonresponsive, not surprised. Thanks for the block quote, gets the truth out to more people.

 

Because everyone aspires to be “rich” and they don’t want the tax man to take away their fictional earnings.

 

Put me on ignore. Great. I can still see and refute your posts

 

Dude, you inherited several 100 acres!!! The total landmass of the US is 2.4 billion acres. If you have, let's say 300 acres, that leaves only 8.1 million who can have that much land, or 2% of the US population. Then everyone else would have NO land. And you whine? You don't even realize how privileged you are.

 

It’s not net income but net worth and it breaks up farms.

 

I fully agree.

BTW: The estate tax exemption is now $11.2 million for singles and $22.4 million for couples. That's obscenely rich. People who inherit that kind of money basically won't have to work for another day in their lives. That's what the GOP wants to promote. The right of trust fund babies to live like kings without ever working for anyhing.

 

We keep the land mostly for sentimental reasons. Economically, those few hundred acres on the other side of the state are not worth the trouble. However, we bought our home with a few acres with our hard earned money. We are privileged because we sacrificed to do it. Likewise we are privileged because our ancestors sacrificed to do it. Buy a few less devices like you are typing on right now and maybe you could do the same.

 

The estate tax doesn’t deal with income.

 

So in your case the tax would effect you because you inherited something you could not manage? That sorta sounds like its purpose. To make sure you do something with the land...But Iv no skin in this game, Im just asking to ask. When I do have to worry about the estate tax..Its something ill be ready for, and not opposed to because In the future I might have to deal with it, and just dont wanna. Not saying you should just pay what ever tax because it exists...But to actually sacrifice a candidate over another sole for the reason they want to tap that revenue source to get a plan going seems counter productive.

What does Trump want to do with it over anyone else running that should grab my vote?

 

At least read and understand what I write.

 

"The old man died and the sons struggled to keep the farm going. For a while it was questionable whether they would be able to keep the farm which likely meant that we would sell our few acres."

 

You can only turn so many farms into strip malls, college landscaped grounds, and non-profit campuses before the USA starts going hungry.

 

..Actually no. Its it factually incorrect and proven that spending less does not even remotely equate to building wealth. If anything America is built on the more you spend correctly the more your money makes for you.
That "device" he is typing on has made him more money and gained him far far more knowledge then anything else the few hundred in savings would have provided him.

You were privileged, dont hide from it with that BS reasoning please.

 

Only farms that aren’t producing revenue... really BIG farms

 

Thanks for your assumptions about how I spend my money.

But, back to the question: If the land you inherited is economically useless, then you clearly are below the $11.2 million exemption, so the estate tax doesn't affect you. If the land is worth more than $11.2 million, then stop whining, because you are in the top 0.01% of wealth.

It is funny, however, that you assume that other people can do the same as you do, by inheriting wealth? Newsflash: People can't pick and chose parents and their socioeconomic status. Most people, even very successful ones, never come close to being affected by the estate tax exemption. You are lucky by the draw of your birth, but you think it is your own hard work that got you there. Just like Trump. No wonder you like him.

 

But, as I explained it does affect me. That farm doing our share crop almost went out of business. Also, just because something does not affect me directly me, does not mean that I have to agree with it. Taxes have already been paid on the income. I see no reason why they should be paid again just because someone died.

By the way, why are you whining? Whether I agree or do not agree does not affect you at all. And obviously you will never be subject to the tax. It affects you even less than it affects me and you have been whining about for half a thread. Whine, whine, whine. That appears to be all you are capable of doing. Whine.

 

Amore complete misunderdtanding of what he's talking about would be hard to find.

 

As usual, LW who have never worked in the private sector a day, know nothing whatsoever about tax or policy, parrot their NEA (SEIU, Teamsters, Chinese, Brock/Soros daily talking points sheet) newsletter religiously for all the rest of our edification. We appreciate the sage enlightenment.

Scratch them and find either outright government employees that leech off the taxpayer to their own financial benefit, government contractors... that leech off the taxpayer to their own financial benefit, or government grantees... that leech off the taxpayer to their own financial benefit. But of course it's all about the GOP, "trust fund babies" and other groups of better people in society they know nothing whatsoever about.