Skewed priorities — that’s what we are living with these days, thanks to President George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress.
The basics go like this: Cut taxes for the rich — either by cutting their income taxes, the capital gains tax or the inheritance tax — and then cut benefits for the middle class and poor through changes to Medicare and Medicaid, education and other programs.
Paul Krugman, America’s best popular economist, puts it this way:
Any senator who votes to repeal the estate tax, or votes for a “compromise” that goes most of the way toward repeal, is in effect saying that increasing the wealth of people who are already in line to inherit millions or tens of millions is more important than taking care of fellow citizens who need a helping hand.
He reminds us that the inheritance tax cut was slated for a vote in September but was tabled after Hurricane Katrina ripped the curtain hiding the shredded social safety net.
But it is back and a vote is expected shortly.
What voters need to remind senators — something senators already know — is that the “estate tax is overwhelmingly a tax on the very, very wealthy; only about one estate in 200 pays any tax at all.”
As Mr. Krugman writes:
In the interest of stiffening those spines, let me remind senators that this
isn’t just a fiscal issue, it’s also a moral issue. Congress has already
declared that the budget deficit is serious enough to warrant depriving children
of health care; how can it now say that it’s worth enlarging the deficit to give
Paris Hilton a tax break?
The South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
Hank Kalet 
And the moral justification for reaching into someones grave and stealing from them is?Seriously, a person labors all their life, makes a contribution to society (otherwise people would not have given them money), and then the political komisars come along and say \”no, no, you\’re too rich. we need it for the children!\”.Of course that means that the grave robbers take it back to Washington, where if there is anything left after expensive meals, vast staffs of richly paid yessirs, and endless studies to document the \”need\”, that might be trickled to the serfs. No, taxes in general, and death taxes in particular, are immoral. Death taxes take money that was already taxed many times. It\’s one last shot at stealing before the person finally escapes. And, like the two wolves and sheep voting on what\’s for dinner, counting noses doesn\’t make it right.Beside depending on politicians a la Katrina is demonstrably deadly.
I am absolutely appaled by the levels of rhetoric coming out of the modern left-wing. What ever happened to the classical liberals of yesterday who believed in humanitarian causes, but instead of crying for the government to solve all their ills gathered up their own resources and made a difference as individuals?