Reading the June 17 letter written by Karen Guzak, a small business owner who hoped that our two U.S. senators supported a no vote on repeal of the estate taxes, made me wonder why she has chosen to go into business. (Estate Taxes: Tax breaks seem only to help the wealthy”) She seems to have an aversion to capitalism.
Small businesses grow. At what point is the former small business owner no longer entitled to do what she chooses to do with her earnings?
The writer asked, “Can we really afford to give the wealthiest 2 percent of estate holders an extra $850 billion over 20 years?” I wonder how much longer the government can keep taking away the earnings of the wealthiest 2 percent before the whole free enterprise system begins to totally fall apart. These people earned their money. They created millions of jobs.
Taxes have been paid on the earnings, and continued earnings also are taxed. As one who is not in the club of the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, I am amazed by other “outsiders” who resent the success of those people. Instead of admiring them for what they have managed to accomplish, including helping create an economy where others can enjoy starting their own businesses, they are maligned and their earnings are targeted for theft.
Our nation will always struggle to provide better quality education, healthcare, social security, etc. A struggle indicates a desire to better a situation. If the quality of our education improved 100 percent, would we call it good enough? I hope not, we should always strive for better. If every dollar that the richest 2 percent of Americans had was taken away from them and deposited in a social services account, would our education or health system be better just because of that move? The government has already spent much more then the 2 percent could ever cough up.
The lack of quality in those above mentioned social issues were the primary reason this country began its massive wealth redistribution in the first place. Yet, the improvements appear to be non-existent. In the field of primary education things have gotten worse. We need to reform our national habit of blaming others and taking away what they have earned and learn to reform the way our social services are managed and delivered. If half the passion behind taking away things from the rich were put into revamping how services are managed, serious progress would be made. You want to really and permanently reform the estate tax law? Fine. Just give everyone the right to do what they want to with their own money.
Everett
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