Hayworth Lies About the Estate Tax Vote

Hayworth’s rationale for his support of the most ironic bill ever, the minumum wage increase/dynasty tax cut, is compete and utter bullshit. He said, "The minimum wage was due for an increase, but it was important that we
offset its cost to small businesses. Permanently reducing the death [sic] tax allows family-run businesses, farms and ranches to stay in the family. This relief is critical to Arizona."

The dynasty tax simply doesn’t affect intergenerational transfer of small businesses, ranches, or farms, at an appreciable rate, and never has. This piece of propaganda, along with the ‘double taxation’ candard, are effective infowar, but don’t hold up to factual investigation. In no way does the dynasty tax offset the costs of raising he minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage has to paid for as an ogoing business expense, a rare one-time tax cannot in any way ‘offset’ that cost. As Jay Quick, my favorite Independent, said at a small business forum recently, "If I as a small business owner can’t pay my workers a higher minimum wage, I’ve got a bad business plan." He got a hearty round of applause from a room full of small business owners for telling that truth.

What’s more, the way that the GOP Congress structured the dynasty tax cut does not in any way address identifying and removing illiquid and working assets, such as agricultural concerns and family businesses, from intergenerational taxation. Indeed, if they had, there would have been practially no reduction in the Dynasty Tax at all. Instead, the Dynasty Tax cut only moves the exemption up to $25 million and lowers the effective rate for larger estates. This might have an incidental effect of exempting some business that would otherwise have been subject to a taxable event upon transfer, but it is a very small tail wagging a very large dog. Congress has essentially slashed taxes on all haystacks in the United States in order to make sure that needles weren’t taxed.

Hayworth is just another ideologically deranged movement conservative whose beliefs and policies belong at a John Birch Society meeting or a Lyndon LaRouche meeting, not in the halls of Congress.