In 2022 (the most recent year we have complete IRS data), the federal government collected a grand total of 0.7% of its entire tax revenue stream from the estate/inheritance tax.
This greed and envy tax is completely irrelevant to the revenue-raising function of our tax system.
But the damage the death tax does to our economy is multiple times higher than the crumbs of revenues the tax raises. It reduces incentives to save, it reduces reinvestment in family-owned businesses, it cuts employment, and it siphons off tens of billions of dollars that could be put to productive use into economically worthless tax shelters. The Joint Economic Committee has estimated a $1 trillion long-term cost to our economy from this evil tax on money that has ALREADY been taxed.
America’s billionaires (who are supposed to be the target of the tax) wind up paying almost none of this tax. Why and how? They have the wherewithal to create multibillion-dollar tax foundations that shelter their wealth from the taxman. They hire the best attorneys, the best bookkeepers, and the best accountants to find clever ways around paying the tax. Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos, Buffett, and Bloomberg won’t be paying much of this tax.
Biden’s “solution” is to cut the income-exempt amounts (roughly $12 million for an estate) in half to get more money out of smaller estates. This allows the IRS to carve into the legacy of family-owned businesses in America – which are the lifeblood of our economy.
There is no tax in American history that has collected so little revenue at such a giant cost to our economy. We would ALL be much richer if we abolished this tax.
The DOJ has already filed actions against Amazon, Google, and Meta platforms. This time they, along with 15 state attorneys general and Washington D.C., allege in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey that Apple’s policies hurt consumers and competitors...
Apple’s iPhone has just 57% of the U.S. smartphone market. Globally, it’s only about 20%. That’s hardly a monopoly. Android serves 41% of U.S. phone users, which clearly indicates that people who prefer not to use Apple’s devices are able to easily find an alternative product. Again, that does not fit the definition of a monopoly.
What the DOJ, politicized by President Joe Biden’s campaign strategy to "go after" Big Tech, fails to realize that people choose to use iPhones, or buy other Apple merchandise, simply because they like them.
Apple is one of America’s favorite companies. It doesn’t sell a lot of phones by forcing them on consumers, it simply makes a good product...
The intensely competitive tech market, where companies continually work to develop better products, services and technologies, is much more capable than the Biden administration of deciding Apple’s future. Keep the DOJ out of it.
3) Are Democrats Finally Starting To Embrace Nuclear Power?
Last November, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a wind and solar energy mandate she boasted would make all of the state’s energy “100% clean” by 2040. Among her moves is an effective ban on natural gas power plants.
But only days later the bills started coming due. Michigan regulators authorized a 6.4% increase in electric rates that were a result of the green energy mandates. Those mandates were LESS stringent than the one’s Whitmer signed into law last year.
Rep. Brian Posthumus, the leader of the GOP House caucus, noted at the time that as that wind and solar power “cannot work” in cloudy and often frigid Michigan. He ridiculed this “pie in the sky” goal a “green energy fairy tale.”
He turned out to be right. This probably explains why the Biden administration has just announced a $1.5 billion loan to open the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in west Michigan. It would mark the first time a U.S. nuclear plant has reopened after being fully closed.
Progressives are rushing to embrace nuclear power in part because they are discovering a cold shower reality that wind and solar are inferior forms of power generation. “Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon-free electricity,” gushed U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the announcement. “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce.” She almost sounds sincere.
Democrats are privately so worried about Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s potential to draw votes from President Biden in November that they have decided to nuke his candidacy. Nearly one in five young Democrats say they will back RFK Jr. Biden also comes in third place among young independents, losing to both Trump and RFK Jr.
Progressive consultants say RFK Jr’s choice of activist liberal lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running-mate means he isn’t making Trump voters his priority. Shanahan, an ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, is also wealthy enough to fully fund ballot access drives by Kennedy in key swing states.
Democratic lawyers are moving to challenge Kennedy’s attempts to gain ballot access. The Hill reports that the Democratic National Committee is “building out war room-type operations [to stop] Kennedy.”
We certainly don’t agree with many of Kennedy’s positions on the environment or energy, but he brings a refreshing candor and perspective to the race that deserves to be heard. We like many of his views on tax policy (which he learned from his uncle JFK) and the erosion of civil liberties and free speech under the Biden presidency. Remember, when a generation or so ago, Democrats cared about economic growth, civil liberties, and the right to free speech?
The fact that Democrats and the media are so intent on destroying Kennedy exposes the monolithically left ideology of today’s Democratic Party. RFK’s message is “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the party left me.”
