[Boston-editorial] Column on war and tax cuts for the rich

[Matthew Williams]

What do you all think? There's some good information in here, but it 
seems kind of soft on the war. -- Matt

On Jun 30, 2005, at 4:01 PM, Betsy Leondar-Wright wrote:

> Greetings,
> Would you be interested in running this column?
> Betsy Leondar-Wright, United for a Fair Economy
>
> Millionaires and War
> by Chuck Collins
>
> Was there ever a time when Congressional tax cuts for 
> multi-millionaires
> were more unseemly?
>
> Recently President Bush spoke about the war in Iraq on national TV, 
> asking
> Americans to be patient and to bear in silence the heavy sacrifice of
> American soldiers’ lost lives. That number is getting close to 2000.
>
> Almost 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has 
> handled
> the war.
>
> In 2001, when terrorism czar Richard Clark was trying to get 
> high-ranking
> Bush administrators to meet about the al-Qaeda threat, the 
> Administration
> was mounting a campaign to pass tax cuts for multi-millionaires. In 
> June of
> that year, they succeeded in achieving cuts of $1.35 trillion over 10 
> years.
> The major beneficiaries had the highest incomes in the land.
>
> In 2003, as our troops were marching on Baghdad, Bush and Congress were
> pushing for $330 billion in additional tax cuts, 57 percent of which 
> went to
> households with incomes over $337,000.
>
> Last summer, as the death toll for American troops was passing 1,000, 
> the
> administration was fighting hard to give corporate donors an 
> additional $140
> billion in tax breaks.
>
> Now, the Senate is preparing to vote on repealing the estate tax, a 
> tax that
> is only paid by multi-millionaires and billionaires, fewer that 1.5 
> percent
> of estates each year.
>
> If there ever was a time to limit tax breaks for multi-millionaires, 
> this
> should be it.  The cost of our military involvements is growing, and 
> we need
> to make additional investments to protect homeland security. 
> Meanwhile, our
> budget surplus has disappeared, shifting from a 2001 estimate of $5.6
> trillion in the black to $5.2 trillion in the red today.
>
> Bush has asked for and gotten close to $200 billion in emergency war 
> funds,
> and it is rumored he will ask for more.  Where is this money to come 
> from?
>
> None of this has deterred Congress from its relentless march to repeal 
> the
> estate tax this year. Repeal would cost almost $1 trillion over two 
> decades.
> Giving such a tax break to wealthy heirs would only shift the burden of
> paying for security onto the rest of us.
>
> It is unprecedented in U.S. history to pass tax cuts for the wealthy 
> in a
> time of war.   For over 200 years, estate and inheritance taxation has 
> been
> linked with mobilizations for war. The first federal tax on wealth was
> levied in 1797, as our country faced the escalating costs of 
> responding to
> French attacks on American shipping.
>
> During the 19th century, income and estate taxes were imposed during 
> the
> revenue emergencies of the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. 
> Wartime
> taxation was viewed as fair at a time when many citizens were 
> sacrificing
> their lives.
>
> The 1916 passage of the estate tax was a fundamentally American 
> response to
> the inequalities of the Gilded Age, as well as the U.S. entry into 
> World War
> I.  Even after the war, businessman Harlan E. Read argued in "The 
> Abolition
> of Inheritance" that war debts should be paid with heavy taxes on 
> inherited
> wealth.
>
> To pay for World War II, the estate tax was increased so that fortunes
> exceeding $50 million would be taxed at 70 percent. President Franklin
> Roosevelt spoke out boldly against war profiteering, saying, "I don't 
> want
> to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a 
> result of
> this world disaster."
>
> Today the lives of U.S. citizens are again at risk as they face 
> prolonged
> service in Iraq. Others are feeling the pain of recession, losing jobs,
> savings and security. State and local governments, facing the worst 
> budget
> cuts since World War II, have gutted crucial community services.
>
> Rather than facing these problems and appropriating the money to 
> resolve
> them, congressional leaders are using the fog of war to pass another 
> tax cut
> for the wealthy that would exacerbate long-term budget shortfalls at 
> all
> levels. While the public's attention is riveted on the war in Iraq, 
> Congress
> shirks its duty to find money to pay for it, and instead moves to 
> repeal the
> estate tax, our most progressive tax.
>
> There is only one word for advocating such an inequality of sacrifice:
> shame!
>
>
> Chuck Collins (ccollins at faireconomy.org), co-author with Bill Gates, 
> Sr. of
> Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated 
> Fortunes, is
> Senior Fellow at United for a Fair Economy.
>
> (691 words)
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Betsy Leondar-Wright
> Communications Director, United for a Fair Economy
> (617) 423-2148 x113
> 29 Winter Street
> Boston, MA 02108
> http://www.FairEconomy.Org
>
>
> United for a Fair Economy is an independent national organization
> that raises awareness of the damaging consequences of concentrated
> wealth and power.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
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