Lies, Damned Lies, and the Estate Tax 0
From the Annenberg Institute:
One recent TV ad repeats an utterly untrue claim that the estate tax can “rip away 55 per cent of what you save for loved ones.” In fact, the tax takes zero per cent from all but a very few. Even multimillionaires pay an average effective tax rate estimated currently at less than 22 per cent of their estates.
The ads are particularly nasty in their tone as well. One portrays Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington as a carrion bird, saying “she voted with the vultures” to oppose consideration of estate-tax repeal. Another attacks Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas for supposedly going back on a promise to support repeal, saying “Pryor is a liar.” Actually, Pryor is on record opposing total repeal, though a statement on his website can easily be read to imply the opposite.
Follow the link for the full, dispassionate analysis of this campaign to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.
On the other hand, go here to read about an equally scurrilous ad from proponents of a different side of this issue.
