Which Side Are They On? Washington's Senators Side with Rich

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Get on the phone! Both our Senators sign on Republican-sponsored bill to help super rich avoid taxation. See below.

Portion below; whole thing here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-greenstein/senate-to-uber-rich-help_b_186165.html

The estate tax is a tax on property (such as cash, stock, or real estate) that very affluent people arrange to transfer to their heirs when they die. President Bush's big tax cut of 2001 eviscerated the estate tax; in 2009, the first $7 million in value of a couple's estate is entirely free from tax and, in 2010, the tax disappears altogether for one year. But, unless Congress acts, the tax will then return in its much stronger, pre-Bush form in 2011, when the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire.

President Obama has proposed making permanent the estate rules that are in effect for 2009. The Lincoln-Kyl proposal, in contrast, would increase the exemption from the current $7 million per couple to $10 million and weaken the tax in other ways. This would cost $91 billion more than the Obama proposal during the first decade when Lincoln-Kyl's full budgetary effects would be felt, 2012-21.

How did Senate proponents sell their colleagues on the idea of spending so much money to benefit the estates of the wealthiest one quarter of one percent of Americans who die? Mainly with deceptive advertising.

In particular, they portrayed this tax windfall for the wealthy as an essential lifeline for small businesses and farms. The Lincoln-Kyl proposal would provide "crucial support and protection to small businesses, family ranchers, and farms," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asserted on the Senate floor.

That's sheer nonsense.

Nearly all small farms and businesses are exempt from the estate tax under the current rules, so Lincoln-Kyl would do nothing for them. Only 100 small farm and business estates in the entire country would owe any estate tax at all in 2011 if Congress extends the current rules, the Tax Policy Center reports. Less than one quarter of one percent of the $91 billion in new tax cuts that the proposal would provide would go to estates that consist primarily of small businesses or farms.

But it was politically effective nonsense. Ten Democrats joined all Republican Senators in voting for Lincoln-Kyl: Max Baucus, Evan Bayh, Maria Cantwell, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Patty Murray, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, and Jon Tester. Senators supporting the measure typically stressed the small business angle. Murray's spokeswoman, for instance, declared, "Small businesses are hurting and we need to make sure they're protected."

Some proponents also claimed Lincoln-Kyl would not increase the deficit because Congress would offset its cost.

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.