Kevin Brown, a deputy commissioner at the Internal Revenue Service, told The New York Times that he ordered the elimination of half of the jobs of the agency’s estate tax lawyers (who find an average of $2,200 of taxes owed for each hour that they work) because fewer people pay estate taxes now, due to legislation pushed through by the Bush administration. But others at the IRS see a different motive for the job cuts. Sharyn Phillips, a veteran IRS estate tax lawyer, claimed that the job cuts were a “back-door way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is repeal of the estate tax.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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22 Comments
Good news!
Actually! We need to get rid of 95% of the IRS in my opinion.
They’ll just increase revenue agents to audit more middle and lower income returns. It’s the conservative agenda. Somebody is going to have to pay this deficit.
A few hyenas got put to sleep and we’re supposed to feel bad about it?
More tax breaks for the rich.
It’s called rewarding the Republican base.
http://www.billionairesforbush.com
Do you even pay income taxes, Joe?
The bottom 50 percent of income earners don’t, that’s why I ask . . .
For those of you who seek the truth…83.88% of taxes are paid by the top 25%
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/03in05tr.xls
And further, liberals have more than their share of fat cats…
http://www.opensecrets.org
Oh, thanks for bringing up that amazing non-sequitur once again, ID.
Of course the rich pay a huge share of income taxes. That’s because their incomes are huge.
The only way you could get the rich to pay a smaller share is to have them earn less money.
Understanding basic statistics makes life so much easier . . . try it sometime, won’t you ID?
The purpose of the estate tax is to employ lawyers and accountants and tax shelter experts.The estate tax is not too hard to avoid, legally, if you are willing to establish the trusts, 529 plans, gifts and other legal tactics to avoid the tax.Usually, the tax hits those who have newly acquired wealth, experience a death and have not planned for it, or do not have the professional advice they need.The estate tax is a stupid tax, it should be repealed.The truly wealthy don’t usually pay any estate tax at all.
Yes! Professor Plum! I actually I’m in the top 50% of the people that pay income tax.
I don’t write anything off and I don’t even make that much money. So 30% of my money is gone. Going to support the government.
Top 50% of wage earners pay 96.09% of income taxes. So, Bottom 50% of wage earners pay 3.11% of income taxes.
PP, you said bottom 50% of ‘income’ earners don’t pay taxes.
A) They doB) The rich vs. poor ideology you enjoy regurgitating is a broken record that doesn’t play anymore. Try being more creative.
This thread is about Estate taxes anyway. Those who have estate taxes have already paid a multitude of taxes (sales, property, income) on the estate. Double taxation. Folks like PP don’t care because their perception is that this only impacts the “rich”. The Robin Hood condition. Well, in a lot of cases, families who didn’t have a lot of money all of a sudden inherit an estate (farming families usually) and BOOM, the government comes in and takes most of it away. You see, this is not a we/they rich/poor issue, but because folks like PP are politicizing it, true reform is again delayed. Shame.
Just how many “farming families” would actually benefit from the permanent repeal of the Estate Tax? I want some hard data here, not some reference to a right-wing “think tank” website.
Okay, ID, I stand corrected.
The bottom 50 percent pay 3 percent. Boy, is my face red!
Where’d you get the idea that I’m “against rich people”? What I’m against are idiots who talk about the huge percentage in income taxes that the rich pay, when the reason is that the rich make huge amounts of money.
Duh.
It doesn’t matter what method of taxation you devise. If it’s based on income, high income earners will pay a lot more than everybody else.
Joe W., good for you. Consider the alternative. If you didn’t make it, you wouldn’t have to pay it . . .
Also, ID, there is not a single case of a family losing their farm to estate taxes.
But the right-wing loves to trot out this myth to justify another huge cut for Paris Hilton.
PP..a link in support….
http://www.sptimes.com/News/040901/news_pf/Worldandnation/Debunking_the_myth__E.shtml
Nice find, KSsam–
That’s a keeper for the files.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The farmland alone is worth more than $2.5-million, so Riekena, 61, fretted that estate taxes would take a big chunk of his three grown daughters’ inheritance.
That might seem a reasonable assumption, what with all the talk in Washington about the need to repeal the estate tax to save the family farm. “To keep farms in the family, we are going to get rid of the death tax,” President Bush vowed a month ago; he and many others have made the point repeatedly.
But in fact the Riekenas will owe nothing in estate taxes. Almost no working farmers do, according to data from an Internal Revenue Service analysis of 1999 returns that has not yet been published.
Neil Harl, an Iowa State University economist whose tax advice has made him a household name among Midwest farmers, said he had searched far and wide but had never learned of a farm lost because of estate taxes. “It’s a myth,” he said.
Again folks, the estate tax is a method to employ attorneys, accountants, CFP’s, CLU’s etc.A major theme in continuing education seminars and classes is teaching insurance agents and financial planners how to avoid estate taxes for their clients. An entire section of the CFP course is on Estate Planning. Same with the CLU course work.The truly wealthy know how to get out of this “death tax.”It is the couple who have done well with their 401K and IRA rollover and home value that end up paying, because they never saw it comming.By the way, the best estate tax dodge out there is the Section 529 College Savings Plan.Most lawyers who understand the plan wish THEY could set it up themselves! (You pretty much have to be NASD licensed).Oh well, you liberals keep many of us busy doing tax shelters.I would rather concentrate on growth, but you seem intent on distracting us.
The poor dont pay taxes huh!!
Well Im young and I only made 20k last year and brought home a little over 16k. That was about 15% of my income paid into the tax base. 15% is fair but it hurts when you only make 20k.
I think a good way to reduce income tax is to get a grip on pork-barrel spending.
I propose each state is alloted a certain amount of money per square mile in their state. Then groups could lobby for a piece of that money, but total spending cannot go over the alloted amount. That way were budgeting and not getting these earmarks that these GOP assholes like to implement. (Im sure the Dems do it too, but not as blatant as the BUSH party)
Estate taxes are bad to say the least. It’s only one of the reasons I support the Fair Tax, or Federal Retail Sales Tax.
Imagine a system where you only have to pay the federal government once. Today between payroll taxes, income taxes, and estate taxes the federal pig just keeps coming back for more. Don’t forget the taxes levied in between on all products/services that you don’t see in the daylight. Stealth taxes, so much more dangerous to us than any $2 Billion dollar stealth bomber.
Right, Gary.
Those are called “payroll taxes” because they’re mainly social security and medicare.
Republicans don’t give a crap about those because they don’t affect the rich at all. Social security caps out at 90,000. Medicare doesn’t cap out, but it only takes like 2 percent.
Remember that in November. The only taxes that Republicans whine about is INCOME taxes, because that’s what affects the rich the most.
BTW, Paul, as a CFP, you must be hopping mad about the huge debt the Republicans have racked up.
8.5 TRILLION DOLLARS and growing at the rate of 1.6 BILLION every day!
That’s 28,000 dollars for every man woman and child in the US.
What would you tell your clients if they had 140,000 dollars in unsecured debt (for a family of five)?
Thanks to the Republicans, that’s what they have . . . or have lost I should say.
As I recall, the original subject of the thread was not the validity of the estate tax, but rather the administation’s apparent attempt to avoid enforcing it.
Anyone remember that bit about “shall see that the laws are faithfully executed?” Oh, right, obeying a publicly sworn oath is violation of the president’s powers. . .
Col MustardThe “Earned Income Credit” basically refunds Social Security taxes to the working poor. It is possible to get more EIC back than what was actually paid in.Also, Deficits are normal after a recession or in war time.Again, the Estate Tax is not good public policy, it makes people do things that are not in the best interest of promoting jobs and growth.The Estate tax just employs accountants, attorneys, insurance agents and brokers.