The problem with writing about something like the estate tax is that sane people have no way to respond. Let's say somebody walks up to you and says "I want to repeal the estate tax." Most people, being relatively sane, will respond with "What the hell? Why?" Then, when they realize that the repealer is serious, they'll start ranting.
We've all heard the litany before. "Costs too much! Only helps the rich! Unfair!" And these responses are correct. But they also miss the point. People who want to repeal the estate tax don't care about any of these things. They don't care about having an effective tax policy at all.
In many ways, the estate tax is the best way for the government to get money. Income taxes create some disincentive to work, and sales taxes create some disincentive to buy things. But most of us have plenty of disincentives to die even before the taxes. The estate tax distorts behavior less than any other tax and thereby increases efficiency.
In addition, it's pretty much painless. Even at its pre-Bush, 1999 levels, the estate tax only hit 1 percent of the population. People who were remotely average didn't have a thing to worry about. As for the family farm? Forget about it. The number of farms that people were forced to sell remains in the low double digits - and if they really wanted to, they could take out a loan for the amount of the tax, and not sell the farm at all.
So, the estate tax is both painless and efficient. At this point our hypothetical sane person is wondering, "why would anyone want to repeal it?" People who are trying to design smart tax policy love the estate tax. The people who want to repeal it are working off a whole different set of priorities.
What motivates estate tax repeal is not desire for good policy or respect for facts. As far as I can tell, they're motivated by something closer to religious faith.
Or at least that's my guess. The only reason to oppose the estate tax is that you oppose all taxes on principle. Right? As near as I can tell, the assault on the inheritance tax doesn't spring from reasoned consideration. Instead, it grows out of a pathological aversion to all forms of taxation.
This is the only explanation I can come up with, and, admittedly, it's a pretty strange one. I wish I had a better answer; it's neither smart nor fair to ascribe insanity to one's opponents. Would conservative readers help me out with this one? I'd love to have a cogent defense of estate tax repeal. Why is this so appealing to you? Submissions can be directed to fakeregistrations@yahoo.com (yes, it's real). I'm absolutely not kidding about this - I've never once come across a fact-based defense of estate tax repeal, and I'd love to see one.
In the interim, though, we have to play the hand we're dealt and deal with repeal on the basis that its supporters are irrational. We, the sane ones, who actually want a rational tax policy, are never going to convince those who want to repeal the estate tax. It's no use even trying to compromise with them; no exemption could be high enough, no rate low enough. Theirs is a conviction born of theology.
The only way to defeat ideologues is to make their ideas unpopular. And yet, the repeal of the estate tax is actually popular. People think the estate tax will actually affect them, and that it's unfair to impose a "death tax." How can sensible people deal with these attitudes?
Well, for one thing, it's useless to try to negotiate with the forces for repeal. So we shouldn't be bothering. Instead, we have to tie this to something that the public actually cares about. Luckily, we have Social Security.
By this point, it's pretty clear that the Democrats have a winning issue on privatization. Liberals are holding town meetings and discussing the Bush plan; conservatives are waiting for the other guys to move first ("No, after you, Senator. I insist.")
At every one of those town meetings, Democrats need to say the words together. Estate tax. Social Security. This is a political freebie. On the one hand, we preserve an incredibly popular and effective program; at the same time, we maintain enough funding to run government at a decent level.
But this strategy is incomplete and based on what must be a false projection. I'm sure there's some good reason to repeal the estate tax - it's just never been explained to me. It's impossible for me to understand why conservatives hate taxes so much and this one in particular. Until that understanding is complete, I'll never know how to talk about this issue. Some things just seem self-evident unless you have faith.
Dan Miller is a junior in the School of Public Affairs.
