[579] in peace2
Saving Charity
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Matthew Grein)
Mon Mar 12 21:53:08 2001
Date: 12 Mar 2001 23:06:26 -0000
Message-ID: <20010312230626.21153.qmail@list.moveon.org>
From: "Matthew Grein" <megrein@MIT.EDU>
To: chriscoprd@aol.com, krystal@nextra.cz, peace-list@mit.edu
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Without your help, one of the most dangerous and destructive elements of the Bush tax plan may pass with little notice -- the repeal of the estate tax. This repeal is not just a boon for the very rich, it is a knife at the throat of our nation's charities. To help stop it, sign our petition at:
http://www.moveon.org/savecharity/index.html
Today, wealthy people often leave their legacy through the creation and support of charities. They give to charity rather than to Uncle Sam. Schools, research institutions, hospitals, colleges, public service charities and churches will all suffer if the estate tax is repealed.
I'm helping launch an Internet petition campaign to tell our representatives to preserve the estate tax. Addressed to your members of Congress, the petition simply says, "Preserve the estate tax on the very rich, and defend our country's proud legacy of charitable giving."
Even the Bush administration's own director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, John J. DiIulio Jr., says repeal could undercut private contributions to charities, religious and nonreligious alike, that help the poor. "I don't want to be the skunk at the picnic," Mr. DiIulio said in an interview. "But no, I don't think the estate tax should be eliminated -- modified, maybe, but not eliminated." (source NY Times, Feb 10)
We need your help now. This repeal could literally extinguish the "thousand points of light." Nothing could be less compassionate. Speak out at:
http://www.moveon.org/savecharity/index.html
A repeal of the estate tax would be a pure act of greed over charity. We cannot let it happen.
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P.S. We have a real chance to win this fight. The repeal is facing substantial opposition from other sectors. Prominent ultra-rich-guy Warren Buffet says, "Repealing the estate tax would be a terrible mistake, the equivalent of choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics... Without the estate tax, you in effect will have an aristocracy of wealth, which means you pass down the ability to command the resources of the nation based on heredity rather than merit."
The right-wing tactic of positioning the estate tax as a "death tax" on small family farms and businesses is beginning to wear thin. In reality, just six of every 10,000 estates are family-owned businesses or farms; these groups pay less than 1% of all estate taxes. In just a few years, the estate tax exemption for a married couple will rise to $2 million estates, and the law already contains many allowances for farms and small businesses.
