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Thom's blog
"Death tax" loopholes are killing our economy
The super rich have skipped out on paying $100 billion dollars in estate taxes since 2000. And, that incredible number doesn't even factor in the billions that they saved using loopholes like capital gains, or by stashing their money in tax havens around the world. A new report from Bloomberg News says that special tax loopholes used primarily by the super rich have made the estate tax system "essentially voluntary" for those at the top.
By funneling money into and out of various trusts and other legal structures, the wealthy have managed to eliminate taxes on money they pass down to their heirs, and even make a tax-free profit while doing so. Basically, billionaires like Shelly Adelson and the Walton family set up special trust funds, like the Walton-created "grantor-retained annuity trust" or GRAT, in which they stash millions of dollars worth of stock. Once those GRATs expire - typically after two years - the billionaires cash out the stock, keep their original investment, along with a profit, and pass on the balance to their heirs. All the while, avoiding taxes on the whole scheme.
By using these completely legal, but highly unethical, tactics, the super wealthy have stashed away $100 billion in a little over a decade. That amount is enough to pay for every child in our nation to go to preschool for ten years, and it could wipe out the entire first round of sequester cuts. One hundred billion could have provided a substantial benefit to our nation, and it's only one of many tax loopholes that the super rich use to get out of paying their fair share.
Republicans and the super rich like to call estate taxes "death taxes," but, as this new report shows, trust-fund schemes like this that are actually killing investment in our nation. If billionaires want to do business in our great nation, it's about time that they start contributing to the commons that make it possible.
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... William "Bill" Becker, Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Watch the video 'Last Hours' narrated by Thom Hartmann about the "time bomb" that is ticking underground, underwater and under ice... frozen methane that is now escaping and could trigger runaway climate change. www.lasthours.org
Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."
Need to Know: Why are Republicans Socking It To the Unemployed?
Special Conversations with Great Minds - William "Bill" Becker, Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP)
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Tuesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Is another GOP hostage crisis on the way?- C. Edmund Wright, WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again 
The Big Picture- Nate Sweet, The Big Picture producer
Clip: "Roosevelt is dead. His policies may live on, but we're in the process of doing something about that as well." by Rush Limbaugh.
Quote: "No one in this world, so far as I know - and I have searched the record for years, and employed agents to help me - has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." - H. L. Mencken.
Hour Two: Do progressives have a new secret weapon against Wall Street?- Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio
Hour Three: The right wing war on Christmas...here we go again- Malcolm Out Loud |
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Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
Hour One: What the Fed's taper plan means for the economy- Dr. Stephanie Kelton, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Hour Two: Why conservatives insist Santa is white- Kevin Jackson, The Black Sphere
Plus, What you need to know about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer- Michael Schaffer, The New Republic
Hour Three: Has marriage become a luxury?- Koa Beck, Salon
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Thom's Poll
Will states follow DC's lead & raise the minimum wage to $11.50?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 12/17/13: Republicans Couldn't Care Less About Working Americans
Tonight's "Politics Panel" discusses the likely passing of the Ryan-Murray budget deal, District Court Judge Richard Leon's ruling calling parts of the NSA spy program unconstitutional and why Obama is making TPP a top priority. In tonight's special Tuesday edition of "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks with Tim Carpenter, Co-Founder & National Director of Progressive Democrats of America.
Thom Hartmann on the News: December 17, 2013
The War on Christmas, or Not?
Do progressives have a new secret weapon against Wall Street?
Republicans Weren't Always Crazy!
Is Another GOP Hostage Crisis on the Way? |
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 Would you like to help give a child with a very troubled background this feeling of peace? Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook. |
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