The Estate Tax Debate: Democrats really do think it’s their money

Democrats really do think it’s their money


Once again the “Soak the rich” chorus is tuning in the State Legislature. Stand by for another effort by Democrats to raise the estate tax for those state residents unfortunate enough to die with any substantial coin on their person. And with a Democrat now in the Governor’s office that effort may well prove successful.

So, let me see if I’ve got this correctly. I write books, pretty good ones if I do say so myself. If the market agrees with me and people purchase my work and I manage build an estate of say, three million dollars before slipping this mortal coil. Some of my elected representatives feel that they have the right, yes the right to swoop in over my still-cooling carcass and say to my heirs, “Excuse us but there are people much more deserving of your father’s money than you so we’ll take as much as we like and you’ll be happy with whatever we let you keep.” That doesn’t sound like the America our founding fathers had in mind, at least not according to any history book that I’ve ever read. But that is exactly how State Democrats see it. In the words of Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven,

“Sparing wealthy estates from a return to tax levels they faced just two years ago should not be lawmakers' top priority.”

Really, is that because not sparing businesses in the state from escalating taxes and a generally hostile environment worked out so well for us? State Senator Looney, like so many Democrats, is laboring under the delusion that the people’s money is the government’s money so in tight fiscal times the government just needs to take more money from the people. And who better to plunder than dead rich people?

Quoting here from the CT Mirror, "The estate tax provides a tremendous amount of revenue for Connecticut," said Joachim Hero, a research analyst for Connecticut Voices for Children, a New Haven-based social services advocacy group and part of the Better Choices for Connecticut coalition pressing for a more progressive state tax system. Hero said recent studies "really challenge the assumption that (taxpayer) migration is strongly affected" by increasing estate taxes, adding that proximity to family and quality of life concerns are the key factors.”

In other words “They won’t leave, they like it here. So it doesn’t matter if we steal their money.” That kind of blatant classism is right at the top of the long list of things I find detestable about the liberal philosophy. How one arrives at the belief that one is absolutely entitled to money earned by others is beyond me. But then, I’m a Conservative Capitalist.