House Votes to cut Estate Taxes

House Republicans, proving where their loyalties lie (hint: the rich) voted to pass deep cuts in the estate tax today, while at the same time approving the line-item veto. The irony is not lost on this writer for the Washington Post:

The House yesterday approved a deep, permanent tax cut on large, inherited estates that would cost the Treasury hundreds of billions of dollars, then sought to burnish its reputation for fiscal discipline by granting the president power to rescind pet projects from spending legislation.

The twin actions, cutting taxes and approving a line-item veto, came as Congress struggles to contain stubborn budget deficits. The votes also came just days after Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tried and failed 31 times to strike pet projects worth more than $200 million from four spending bills that passed the House easily.

House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) strongly defended both pieces of legislation but offered no reason for considering them in sequence.

"Sometimes things just happen on the same day," he said, shrugging.

Indeed!

That pandering to their real base-the wealthy-should come before fiscal discipline is really no surprise. Nor is it even well-disguised, as the costs are tremendous and obvious:

The bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the estate tax cut would cost the government $279 billion in revenue over the next 10 years.

But between 2012 and 2021, the first decade the tax would be fully in force, the cost to the Treasury would climb to $602 billion -- $762 billion if the costs of additional interest payments are included. And if the 15 percent tax rate on capital gains is extended beyond its 2010 expiration date, the 10-year cost could be as much as $823 billion, according to the joint committee.

Where's that lost revenue going to made up? Hmmm...what's that? No answer?

That his hare-brained scheme actually has a shot of getting by in the Senate makes it even more egregious. That may happen thanks to a few Democrats who may be wanting to defect on this issue. I encourage you to write and inform them of just how stupidly short-sighted that would be, for both the nation and their political careers.