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April 13, 2005 at 08:00 PM
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When Purists Prevail

It is so reassuring to know that Congress has its head screwed on straight and is taking care of the really pressing issues facing the country.

I must admit I was beginning to worry. After all, the new Congress had been in session at least a couple of months and the House of Representatives had not yet passed a bill permanently repealing the estate tax.

For sure, Congress had gotten its act together enough to pass legislation that would make it much harder for middle and lower income people to declare bankruptcy, while still leaving open a passageway (some say loophole, but why be unkind?) for the wealthy to be able to shelter their assets. In addition, the unwealthy deadbeats would have to repayno more getting off scot-free to start anew.

This bill also took care of the banks and credit card companies who had had to wait an unmercifully long time for this landmark legislation to pass both the House and the Senate. You dont need to be Mother Teresa to feel compassionate toward the credit card companies which, after all, have gone above and beyond in bestowing enormous amounts of credit upon millions and millions of citizens. And lets not forget that most of this credit was offered with little other requirement than being a resident of the good old U.S.A.

Its almost insulting to think that such munificence couldor shouldbe rewarded by banks and credit card firms only being able to collect fat fees and charge stratospheric interest rates.

There was always the danger for these banks and credit card companies, after all, that scads of minimum balance paying deadbeats would just bail out at some point if doctor bills or disability did them in. Fortunately, however, this Congress knows how to apply the squeeze where it will do the most good to stop the bleeding.

Sometimes Congress has to take a courageous stand. So, never mind if someones bankruptcy was caused by overwhelming medical bills or loss of employment or other debilitating problems. Repayment is good for the soul of the middle and lower income brackets.

But weve already spent more time thinking about the middle and lower income brackets than Congress has, so lets get back to the estate tax. The House has a greatnay, an unparalleledrecord on this issue. For the previous three years, the House had passed permanent repeal legislation. So many were wondering could it, would it do so a fourth time. Not to worry. This is one legislative bodyunlike the eternally dithering Senatethat has its priorities straight.

So, yes, the death tax purists prevailed again and the House killed the estate tax for everyone. On this issue the House is like one of those people who maintain that an argument over money is not about the money, but about the principle of the thing.

And the principle here is that abolishing the estate tax for 99.7% of the populationas an amendment offered by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., would have donewas deemed insufficient. Further, it couldnt have been about the money because full repeal of the estate tax is going to cost the government upwards of $200 billion over 10 years, whereas Pomeroys proposal would have been a far less drain on the Treasury.

So, there you have the principle: something that benefits that 0.3% sliver of the population is deemed to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars because taxation is by definition bad.

Tell me, do purists ever face reality?


Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 15, 2005. Copyright 2005 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.


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