Concentration of Wealth
This just makes me sick. The report linked to below followed the money back to figure out who was funding the campaign to repeal the estate tax.
…the families identified in this report and their companies’ political action committees have, since 1999, made at least $27.7 million in contributions to candidates and federally focused political committees, largely to unregulated Section 527 committees.
…
Collectively, these super-wealthy families have a net worth of at least $185.5 billion. They include 23 billionaires, each of whom is listed in the Forbes 400. They stand to save $71.6 billion if their repeal campaign succeeds.
Nice return on investment.
Health Care Coverage for Uninsured Americans ($34 to $69 billion).
More here (pdf).
Meanwhile in California:
The top 3 percent of the returns, those with incomes exceeding $200,000, paid about 60 percent of all state taxes. “What happens to the top 1 percent is of great interest to the Department of Finance,”
As we can see the feeling is mutual.
June 4th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
[...] new rules before others. I.e. some members of the elite will lobby the government to get tools that protect their social standing sooner than other. [...]
September 6th, 2006 at 11:00 am
[...] ow does the Plutocracy feel about the demotion of Pluto? Heavens, if they can organize to eliminate the death tax you’d think they could get it together to for [...]