Republicans ‘just don’t get it’

THE US Senate intends to vote this week to permanently abolish the federal estate tax, the country’s only tax on large inheritances of wealth.

In light of the failure to invest in protecting the Gulf Coast and the shameful federal response following Hurricane Katrina, critics say there is no clearer evidence that Republican leaders “just don’t get it.” Passing a $1 trillion tax break for billionaires in the wake of one of the country’s worst national disasters is grotesque and shameful, they say. Yet there is every indication Senate Majority leader Thomas Frist intends to proceed with a vote.

The estate tax is America’s most progressive and fairest tax, paid only by multi-millionaires and billionaires. In the coming decade, the estate tax will raise almost $1 trillion in revenue. These funds could be used to rebuild the Gulf Coast, close deficits, and respond to other neglected federal priorities.