Trump’s Plan to Repeal the Estate Tax Will Help Only Those Who Don’t Need Any Help
Are you worried about how the estate tax will affect your family when you die? If so, then you are either wealthier than 99.8% of your fellow Americans or you worry too much.
President Trump’s one-page budget plan, which more resembles a potluck flier you’d find on a bulletin board at your local library, includes a bullet point that reads, “Repeal the death tax.” No additional details are provided. So in case you were wondering, this particular potluck is BYOB (Bring Your Own Budget).
Expounding on that in a recent press briefing, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that the Trump Administration’s plan to eliminate the estate tax, which they like to call the “death tax” because it has a more negative connotation to it, will help protect farmers and small business owners. “We’re going to repeal the death tax,” Mnuchin said. “The threat of being hit by the death tax leaves small business owners and farmers in this country to waste countless hours and resources on complicated estate planning to make sure their children aren’t hit with a huge tax when they die. No one wants to see their children have to sell the family business to pay an unfair tax.”
Let’s see if the numbers support what Mnuchin is saying. A 2015 Congressional report from the Joint Committee on Taxation found that only the wealthiest 0.2% of Americans have to pay the estate tax. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American farmer makes $66,360 per year. So unless that small-time farmer is somehow sitting on thousands of acres of land, the estate tax is not going to apply. The same holds true for small business owners.
The only people who are affected by the estate tax are those who are rich enough to afford it. But if this tax is just too punishing a hardship for any of you 0.2% folks, I would be glad to do you a huge favor and switch places with you. Just think about it: You can have all the freedom and luxury that comes with not being rich while I’m forced to carry the terrible burden of being so obscenely wealthy that the government gets to take a cut after I die. No, really, I’m happy to do this for you! Any takers?
If the higher taxes you’re paying aren’t traumatizing enough that you wish you were poor so you wouldn’t have to pay them, then you’re in no position to complain. Slightly less rich is still rich, after all. It beats not being able to eat. Those ultra-wealthy few who can’t stomach the idea of giving anything away are not fiscal conservatives. They’re hoarders.
Of course, why bother coming up with a cogent argument for repealing one of our precious few remaining taxes on the ridiculously wealthy when you can simply come up with an icky-sounding nickname for it, instead? “Death tax” certainly doesn’t inspire happy thoughts. Today’s Republicans like to operate under the theory that, if you call a hamburger a “death burger” or a hotdog “congealed insect remains,” people will be less likely to buy it. In other words, it’s purely a cheap manipulation tactic that adds absolutely nothing of substance to the debate.
My answer to the Republicans is this: I get that you want to slash the estate tax because it conflicts with your corporatist ideology. But don’t insult our intelligence by claiming you’re doing this to help struggling farmers and small business owners. We know better.
The true face of the few who will actually be helped by Trump’s repeal of the estate tax can be described in two words: Paris Hilton. Need I say more?
