GOP comes to the rescue -- of the rich
BY TOM TEEPEN
teepencolumn@earthlink.net
Miami Herald
Bless them, the Republicans in Congress have not lost their compassion after all.
Yes, they have been voting en mass against every proposal President Barack Obama has put forward in hopes of stirring economic recovery -- all that unholy spending to gin up jobs, fix decrepit roads and bridges, boost education, help the unemployed and so on.
To that kind of pie in the sky, congressional Republicans have been so resistant that in some quarters they were being dismissed as the Party of No. But comes along one needy group that had been overlooked, and the GOP has jumped jack-rabbit quick to its aid.
The neglected group is the downtrodden rich, and the aid is in the form of an amendment to the budget bill that would let them shield a good bit more of their multimillion dollar estates from federal taxation.
The Senate accepted the amendment 51-48, with 10 stray Democrats pitching in. As it stands, the first $7 million of couples' estates, and the first $3.5 million of individuals' estates, are exempted, and the rest is taxed 45 percent. The amendment would raise the exemption to $10 million and lower the rate to 35 percent.
(More here.)
teepencolumn@earthlink.net
Miami Herald
Bless them, the Republicans in Congress have not lost their compassion after all.
Yes, they have been voting en mass against every proposal President Barack Obama has put forward in hopes of stirring economic recovery -- all that unholy spending to gin up jobs, fix decrepit roads and bridges, boost education, help the unemployed and so on.
To that kind of pie in the sky, congressional Republicans have been so resistant that in some quarters they were being dismissed as the Party of No. But comes along one needy group that had been overlooked, and the GOP has jumped jack-rabbit quick to its aid.
The neglected group is the downtrodden rich, and the aid is in the form of an amendment to the budget bill that would let them shield a good bit more of their multimillion dollar estates from federal taxation.
The Senate accepted the amendment 51-48, with 10 stray Democrats pitching in. As it stands, the first $7 million of couples' estates, and the first $3.5 million of individuals' estates, are exempted, and the rest is taxed 45 percent. The amendment would raise the exemption to $10 million and lower the rate to 35 percent.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home