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

[Matthew Williams]

Well, since no one has objected, I'm going to feature this sucker. -- 
Matt

On Jul 1, 2005, at 6:49 PM, Matthew Williams wrote:

> 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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