Why Do People Hate Estate Taxes But Love Wealth Taxes?
- Published: Thursday, 31 October 2019 14:12
- Written by Joseph Thorndike, Forbes
- Hits: 1493
Americans hate the estate tax but love the wealth tax. What’s up with that?
Americans hate the estate tax but love the wealth tax. What’s up with that?
They call themselves the "Gilets Jaunes," or yellow vests, in French. They're mostly young, male and extremely angry, and they've been marching in the streets and rioting in Paris and elsewhere, protesting yet another bunch of taxes on gasoline in the government's never-ending battle against global warming. Who says no one cares about climate change?
Poll after poll shows that few support the Republican tax-cut plan. But when pollsters bother to ask about specifics in the bill, support skyrockets. Guess which results make the headlines?
Is the GOP getting serious about tax reform at last? Republicans in Congress say they'll unveil the outlines of a consensus plan in two weeks, as President Trump hits the hustings to stump for tax reform. We hope this isn't another false start.
In this time of political partisanship, the two parties at last have found something they can agree on: raising the gas tax. It's a truly awful idea, and might get Republicans kicked out of office.
National Agenda: Discussion of the so-called fiscal cliff has sucked so much air out of the room that many people don't realize it's not the biggest thing we face as a nation. Indeed, many challenges loom. Will we be up to them?
While much of the focus in the 'fiscal cliff' debate has been on income taxes, the group of wealthy Americans says an estate tax 'promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power.'
Tax revenues are seen as one source to help cut the deficit. In a new Monitor/TIPP poll, Americans were asked which tax deduction they would be most ready to part with. The charitable deduction led the list.
Taxes: A new IBD/TIPP poll finds most back President Obama's soak-the-rich Buffett tax rule. But they also want dividend and capital gains taxes kept low to encourage investment and growth. Problem is, you can't do both.
...go tax that fellow behind the tree. The old ditty, referring to how people seem to want higher taxes on everyone but themselves, is as true today as ever, based on this month's IBD/TIPP Poll. Last month, we asked Americans how they felt about hiking taxes on higher earners, And whether it was incomes of $250,000 or $1 million, they were all for it. This month we asked respondents if they themselves would mind paying more. The tax-by-tax responses below are just as negative as last month's were affirmative.