How Dare They!

These self-serving, self-righteous thieves!

Senators get death bonuses; taxpayers get death taxes.  Outrageous!

Right before Congress slinked away to beg for their jobs – The U.S. Senate voted to pay Senator Byrd's family a $193,400 Death Bonus!  Meanwhile, the Republican Senate Whip is talking about “bipartisan tax reform” in which the death tax rate is “made permanent,” NOT permanently repealed.

In 2001, President Bush signed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA), which reduced the estate tax from 55% in 2001 to 45% in 2009 and totally repealed the estate tax on January 1, 2010.  However, due to complex Senate budget rules, the EGTRRA tax relief is not permanent.  The punishing death tax, which Congress slowly strangled to death during the last decade, is due to rise from the dead in less than three months.  Consequently, the death tax will return like a zombie with a top rate of 55% unless Congress acts to stop this tax increase.

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

Please, make no mistake about it. Byrd’s death bonus was not a charitable act of good will.  It was a blatant display of Washington cronyism by the DC elite at it's worst.  You pay death taxes to finance their death bonuses.  What’s wrong with this picture?

Believe me, I would applaud a charitable act from our elitists in the Senate. But not one Senator took a thin dime out of his or her pocket. THEY TOOK IT OUT OF OURS!

Senator Robert Byrd was no charity case. He was a U.S. Senator since 1958.

Just so we are clear. When U.S. Senators die they get a $200,000 Death Bonus. When Taxpayers die they get the Death Tax.

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

Can you see why I am angry?

The Death Tax hurts small businesses, kills jobs and destroys family farms. Essentially, the Death Tax punishes precisely the kind of behavior society should want to reward – hard work, good sense, savings - and it rewards behavior that should be discouraged - extravagance, over-consumption and leisure.

The easiest way to avoid all death taxes is to spend your money before you go. But work hard, reinvest your earnings and leave your life's savings to your loved ones and the IRS becomes one of your heirs. Death should be no reason to let Uncle Sam raid and then re-raid anyone's bank account. Death should not be a taxable event.

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

Can you believe the audacity of Senators?  While they are planning to resurrect the Death Tax in the name of “tax reform,” they rushed through a taxpayer-financed death bonus for the family of recently deceased Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) on a must-pass appropriations bill. The appropriations provision awarded Byrd's children and grown grandchildren equal shares of the late senator's $193,400 salary that he would have been paid next year if he had lived.

As it turns out, this is a standard form of mutual back scratching long practiced by the sententious upper body. The families of dead senators receive death benefits at taxpayers' expense while regular families pay death taxes to help pay for bloated government. No wonder grassroots America is up in arms prepared to throw all the incumbents out in November. Little things mean a lot, and a lot of little things are building up back home.

Americans work tirelessly their entire lives to provide for their families to build up a nest egg for their families for when they pass on. However, when Senators die their family receives a death bonus on top of all the other benefits government employees receive. If the Senate feels so strongly about paying the family a death bonus, then perhaps they should pool their own money and pay it out of their pocket instead of burdening the taxpayer.

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

Before 2001, the government taxed the transfer of an estate worth more than $1 million at a 55 percent rate. Handing down a family business required extensive estate planning to ensure that property or equipment did not have to be sold to pay the tax. However, the sudden death of a business owner could be devastating.

Estate planning, because of its complexity and the need to hire a good lawyer, is both time-consuming and expensive. This is money and time spent on managing the estate, not managing and growing the business. While many would like to think that the estate tax only affects the wealthy, every American pays a price in reduced economic growth and job opportunities.

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

The Wall Street Journal reported this summer even more distressing news: the minimum worth of an estate that can be hit by the death tax is shrinking from 3.5 million down to 1 million. This has the potential to affect eight times as many taxpayers nationwide.

Plain and simple, death shouldn't be a taxable event for anyone. The Congress must see to it that the estate tax dies a deserved death and is buried permanently.

But wait, you might say:  “Hunter, you are exaggerating the threat.  After all, aren’t the Republicans about to crush the Democrats in a landslide election victory, perhaps even taking control of both Houses of Congress?”  Well, yes they are, and that could be the problem. 

In a Wall Street Journal article yesterday, Senate Republican Whip John Kyl (Senator McCain’s colleague from Arizona) did not call for a permanent repeal of the death tax; HE CALLED FOR BIPARTISAN TAX “REFORM” IN WHICH THE DEATH TAX RATE WOULD BE MADE “PERMANENT,” NOT PERMANENTLY REPEALED.  You’ve got to listen to these politicians carefully if you don’t want to be tricked. 

And, watch what they do, not what they say.  Senator Kyl introduced a bill in April with Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln to set the estate tax rate permanently at 35 percent.

If we don’t send Senator Kyl and all Republicans a clear message right now— permanently repeal the death tax, kill it black-flag dead once and for all—the next thing you know, we will see Republicans and Democrats arm-in-arm resurrecting the death tax in the name of “bipartisan tax reform.”

Fax Your Members of Congress and Senators to

Demand that Congress Eliminate the Death Tax

NO MORE DEATH BONUSES TO SENATORS ! NO DEATH TAXES FOR CITIZENS

And please Senators, stop stealing our money.

Sincerely,

Lawrence A. Hunter, Ph.D.

Social Security Institute 15 Culpeper St. Warrenton VA, 20186

P.S. I don't think I could say or do anything to make you angrier at the repugnant behavior of our elected officials. The Social Security Institute will always stand up to these self serving politicians every step of the way. Thank you for your support and please consider a donation of $5, $10, $25, $50 or more to help us continue the fight. Thank you so much for your generosity.