The wrong guy to make the case

June 5, 2006

A Senate vote on a full repeal of the [tag]estate tax[/tag] is slated for this week (probably Thursday), and as part of its coverage, the Washington Post ran dueling op-eds on the issue from [tag]Sebastian Mallaby[/tag] and Sen. [tag]Jeff Sessions[/tag] (R-Ala.). Readers can decide for themselves who makes the stronger case, but I think Ezra captured the heart of the debate when he noted that it’s “a bit like setting a monkey in intellectual combat with his banana.”

Nevertheless, picking Sessions to take the lead on this is an odd choice for Senate Republicans, especially in light of the Alabama senator’s embarrassing background on the issue.

Federal troops aren’t the only ones looking for bodies on the Gulf Coast. On Sept. 9, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions called his old law professor Harold Apolinsky, co-author of Sessions’ legislation repealing the federal estate tax, which was encountering sudden resistance on the Hill. Sessions had an idea to revitalize their cause, which he left on Apolinsky’s voice mail: “[Arizona Sen.] Jon Kyl and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something we could push back with.”

If legislative ambulance chasing looks like a desperate measure, for the backers of repealing the estate tax, these are desperate times. Just three weeks ago, their long-sought goal of repeal seemed within reach, but Katrina dashed their hopes when Republican leaders put off an expected vote. After hearing from Sessions, Apolinsky, an estate tax lawyer who says his firm includes three multi-billionaires among its clients, mobilized the American Family Business Institute, a Washington-based group devoted to estate tax repeal. They reached out to members along the Gulf Coast to hunt for the dead.

They found plenty of [tag]Katrina[/tag] victims — but none that was hit with the estate tax.

For what it’s worth, despite the hyper-wealthy conservative interests who have bankrolled this fight for years, it appears proponents of a full repeal are a few votes short. There’s still an irresponsible “compromise” measure under consideration, but if things go as they should, this absurd initiative should be defeated by week’s end.

They found plenty of Katrina victims — but none that was hit with the estate tax.

Gee, what were the odds?

  • In law it is known as: the federal estate tax

    The Republicans call it — the “death tax.”

    In reality, it is: a WEALTH TRANSFER TAX that effects only grossly rich families. Boo-hoo for American’s richest families.

  • I read both articles over lunch. They talk right past each other without touching on the same issues to make a sound debate. That’s the problem with political discussions today. No one accepts the same premises.

    One statistic of Sessions’ I’d like to check is the number of Businesses and Farms that HAD to be sold to pay estate taxes. How exactly are they deciding which ones were sold for taxes and which ones were sold to divide up an estate between inheritors and which ones were sold simply because the kids had not interest in the business or farming? I suspect that Sessions it taking them all and claiming the sales were to pay taxes.

    I mean, whatever happened to getting a loan?

  • Gridlock, actually the odds wouldn’t have been too bad — if the Katrina victims had been a random sample of the population as a whole. The estate tax currently affects about 1 in 200 estates. Of course, the problem for Sessions’ search was that Katrina victims were disproportionately poor.

  • “Of course, the problem for Sessions’ search was that Katrina victims were disproportionately poor.” – KCinDC

    Also, maybe, the rich fled before the huricane rather than die in it’s aftermath?

  • Come to think of it, they might have more chance of finding victums of the Indonesian Tsunami whose heirs had to pay estate taxes. Not that would be a big selling point 😉

  • I don’t understand your point, Lance. I think it’s probably true both that the areas most affected by the hurricane were not as rich as the average community in the United States and that the richer people in the areas affected were more able to flee than the poorer people (for example, they presumably were more likely to have cars). It sounds like you’re bringing back the old Republican talking point about how those who died in Katrina have only themselves to blame.

  • it’s “a bit like setting a monkey in intellectual combat with his banana.”

    I know LOL and I know :^) but what’s blogger shorthand for p*ssing yourself laughing? That’s a funny line and one that I will freely lift for my own purposes.

  • “I don’t understand your point, Lance” – KCinDC

    Nobody got a warning to get away from the Tsunami.

    And any Americans caught by it were either Peace Corps or rich folk on an expansive vacation. If any of the later were caught by the Estate Tax, I doubt anyone is going to feel that sympathetic, especially for the ones on sex vacations in southern Thailand.

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