The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Giving to Those Who Don’t Need It

Mar 5, 2001

The Bush administration has proposed to eliminate estate taxes. Under current law, the wealthy are the only ones to pay estate taxes. By the year 2006, no one owning less than a million dollars would be paying any federal estate tax.

This estate tax plan would certainly benefit the Bush cabinet itself. Vice President Cheney may have assets as high as 80 million dollars, so it would be useful for his family. President Bush may have assets as high as 21 million dollars, so it would be useful for his family.

Other members of the current cabinet have estimates of wealth which vary from 242 million dollars (the Defense secretary) to a mere two million dollars (the Agriculture secretary). So the measure would be useful for their families as well.

But what about the rest of us? Our taxes will soon be "adjusted" upward to make up for what the millionaires won’t pay any more.