There is so much misleading information in all types of media that it’s absolutely a wonder that democracy can function at all. A few examples, the New York Times in a recent article titled Saving Momma From The Train Professor Richard T. Thaler states “The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that eliminating the estate tax would cost over $500 billion over the next decade.” This piece of information is so out of context and leaves such a dishonest impression that it is “mind boggling”.
The Professor should know that to almost everyone $500 billion sounds like a heck of a lot of money. If you collected a billion grains of sand it would also sound like a heck of a lot of sand, but in reality, it’s next to zero percentage of the total sand in the world.
The government collects approximately $4 trillion of receipts from all kinds of taxes. Estate tax collections believe or not, are less than one percent of this figure annually. Over the next ten years the government’s receipts from taxes are estimated to be $45 trillion plus and the $500 billion in estimated estate tax receipts is not much over than one percent of the total. Obviously a very unimportant number.
The great attempt to mislead the public by claiming that the estate tax is important to the government balancing the budget is again misleading.
Furthermore, it is absurd to tax $7 million or $10 million estate the same amount as a person having a $1 billion estate. With a $1 billion taxable estate, even if it was taxed at 90%, there would be more than enough money left over to take care of all their children, charities and everything else. At the $10 million level the amount leftover after a 90% estate tax would hardly be described as leaving their biological heirs wealthy.
I said in an earlier blog that the political rhetoric, name calling and class warfare commentaries would inhibit the solving of the problems that exist in our society.
To make this discussion even clearer if someone makes a lot of money they either spend it or invest it. If they build a huge house, their money is transferred to the contractors, brokers, furniture manufacturers, plumbers and everyone else. If they buy stock the money is transferred to the seller, it’s not put under pillows. The same is true for money left to heirs, it circulates through the economic system. We will talk more about this at another time.
The New York Times often writes articles about the inequality of wealth. Without further comment, I looked at the total compensation of the top executive at the New York Times. This is a very poorly run company and in my opinion has done almost everything wrong. The total compensation of the top executive at the New York Times was approximately $6,000,000.00 in 2009. Enough said for now. Stay tuned...
The Professor should know that to almost everyone $500 billion sounds like a heck of a lot of money. If you collected a billion grains of sand it would also sound like a heck of a lot of sand, but in reality, it’s next to zero percentage of the total sand in the world.
The government collects approximately $4 trillion of receipts from all kinds of taxes. Estate tax collections believe or not, are less than one percent of this figure annually. Over the next ten years the government’s receipts from taxes are estimated to be $45 trillion plus and the $500 billion in estimated estate tax receipts is not much over than one percent of the total. Obviously a very unimportant number.
The great attempt to mislead the public by claiming that the estate tax is important to the government balancing the budget is again misleading.
Furthermore, it is absurd to tax $7 million or $10 million estate the same amount as a person having a $1 billion estate. With a $1 billion taxable estate, even if it was taxed at 90%, there would be more than enough money left over to take care of all their children, charities and everything else. At the $10 million level the amount leftover after a 90% estate tax would hardly be described as leaving their biological heirs wealthy.
I said in an earlier blog that the political rhetoric, name calling and class warfare commentaries would inhibit the solving of the problems that exist in our society.
To make this discussion even clearer if someone makes a lot of money they either spend it or invest it. If they build a huge house, their money is transferred to the contractors, brokers, furniture manufacturers, plumbers and everyone else. If they buy stock the money is transferred to the seller, it’s not put under pillows. The same is true for money left to heirs, it circulates through the economic system. We will talk more about this at another time.
The New York Times often writes articles about the inequality of wealth. Without further comment, I looked at the total compensation of the top executive at the New York Times. This is a very poorly run company and in my opinion has done almost everything wrong. The total compensation of the top executive at the New York Times was approximately $6,000,000.00 in 2009. Enough said for now. Stay tuned...
The media controls everything. What a shame.
ReplyDeleteFor somebody who seems to be obsessed with historical accuracy, It appears that you have selective memory yourself. Why no mention of Osherow-Siegel Capital? C'mon Shep!!! 1989 wasn't that long ago.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing. As I stated in my first story there will be more to follow. I have yet to expand on my time at Atalanta Sosnoff and hope to do so in the near future. At that point I will cover my time at Osherow-Siegel Capital which comes after Atalanta.
I am still trying to decide if my website will cover stories from my whole life which include my long battle with leukemia.
Thanks again for your comment and hope you might consider letting me know your name.
I and many others would look forward to hearing about your time at Atalanta Sosnoff and Osherow Siegel. Hopefully you will cover that time with the same detail you covered the Bernstein years.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteWould you care to share your name?