Inherit what?
Re “ ‘Death tax’ is a job killer,” Opinion, May 6
Douglas Holtz-Eakin’s proffered evidence in support of the elimination of the estate tax is vague, ambiguous and defies common sense.
I have owned and operated small businesses for more than 30 years, and never once has it occurred to me to sit on my laurels because of tax considerations. At all times I’ve been motivated to work hard and accumulate as much as I can to provide “the good life” for my family and myself.
But Holtz-Eakin would have us believe that there are millions of small-business owners out there who would just as soon not expand their businesses because of a tax that will be levied only after they are dead. Americans, it may surprise the former director of the Congressional Budget Office to learn, are neither that unimaginative nor that lazy.
Les T. Zador
Encino
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Holtz-Eakin’s calculations omitted some key information. First, of the 27 million small-business owners in America, what percentage have a net worth of more than $3.5 million, the threshold for triggering this tax?
Most small-business owners I know are just trying to stay in business and are not amassing millions of dollars in wealth. Second, Holtz-Eakin assumes all business owners will create 1.8 million new jobs if this great “burden” is lifted, as if none of these people would simply enjoy the profits for themselves.
With all the suffering currently affecting so many in our society, this is not the time to argue for repealing a tax that only 1% of Americans have the luxury to worry about. Enough already.
Julius Reuter
Guadalupe, Calif.
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Those opposed to the federal estate tax phrase their arguments as though the tax were paid by the person who made the money, despite the fact that he is not the one who actually pays it.
The question that is never debated is the extent we should allow wealth to be inherited. Is it truly in society’s interest for people to have the benefit of large amounts of money they had no hand in creating? Is it in the interest of the child himself? (Witness Paris Hilton.)
Our economic system already rewards certain people out of proportion to their efforts and abilities, but we should ask ourselves how much benefit, and attendant power, should be allowed to people who have contributed nothing themselves. Some, certainly, and a lot in some cases. But tens of millions? Hundreds of millions? Billions?
T. David Estes
San Clemente
