Editor's note: "Black News" would like to welcome back its writers who for the past 6-months have been under death threats by officials in Chattanooga over freedom of speech issues.
The Rich Need Love Too!
By Sinclere Lee
ATLANTA — (BNW) The Senate voted in favor of a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, which showed love, and will save the wealthy in America over $600-billion. The rich even got an estate tax cut that will protect only a few wealthy billionaires from paying taxes on their homes. The bill would also exempt inheritances up to $3.5 million, saving the rich billions more in tax breaks. And what do the politicians have to say about this big tax give away?
The rich need love too!
Currently, the estate tax is scheduled to exempt inheritances up to $1 million and tax amounts above that at a rate of 55%. Under the tax package, it would be reduced to a rate of 35% on amounts above a $5 million individual exemption.
The final Senate vote was 83-15 (2 not voting). Nine Democrats and five Republicans voted against the bill, as did Independent Bernie Sanders. A few notable Democrat senators not participating in the bipartisan deal whipped up by President Obama and the GOP were Russ Feingold (Wisc.), Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), Mark Udall (Colo), and Pat Leahy (Vt.). These were the few brave enough to say: This is a bad deal for 97% of Americans. We're not going to stand for it. We're going to get a better bill.
Particularly troubling to Democrats is a provision raising the exemption threshold for the estate tax from the 2009 policy of $3.5 million to $5 million, and cutting the tax rate from 45 percent to 35 percent.
"It's hard to believe they think it's wise to give a windfall to heirs such as Paris Hilton," senior Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen wrote in the Washington Post.
House Democrats are becoming more resigned to passage of the $858 billion package. Experts predict that the measures will probably boost economic growth but add to the $1.3 trillion budget deficit, which has unsettled the bond market.
And, out of the $800 billion in tax cuts, the middle class gets roughly $200 billion of it, spread through the majority of the population, while the remaining $600 billion is spread to the top 2-3 percent of wage.
The rest of the Senators either don't care about the middle class, or enjoy bipartisan orgies celebrating wealthy Americans. I hate to be so cynical about this, but it's true. Obama and the GOP whipped up a very poor deal for those of us unlucky enough to not make more than $250,000 / year, and for those of us unfortunate enough to not have a job.
After it's all said and done, this bill is bad for you. And for me. When the Bush tax cuts expire again, in two years, the Republicans are sure to push for another extension. If they're holding Obama and the American people hostage this time, they're going to do it again in two years.
Also, in a CBS poll, 54% of Americans don't want tax cuts for the rich, but only for the middle class, and 14% don't want tax cuts for anybody. That's 67% of Americans saying they don't want tax cuts for the rich. Can you hear that President Obama? Those polled must not have understood the bill's details well enough.