Tomorrow, the Senate will likely take up the repeal of the estate tax that could rob the U.S. treasury of $1 trillion dollars over the next decade. That means, essentially, virtually no additional money will be available to spend on any domestic programs or make up shortfalls in the Social Security trust fund. You can do something about it by using this handy contact-your-Senator website provided by Pubic Citizen, with a draft letter you can send in with your own revisions. Here's the letter:
I am distressed to hear that in the midst of skyrocketing deficits, budget cuts for the poor, continued rebuilding from Katrina and a war on terror, the Senate is considering voting to repeal the estate tax and plunge our country even further into debt.
This is one of the worst ideas I have heard in a long time - at least since the last time the Senate leadership considered doing this, immediately after Katrina struck. I urge you in the strongest terms to vote against any repeal of the estate tax.
The estate or inheritance tax is a fair and necessary tax that effects only the very wealthiest people in our country. Stories about family farmers and small business people having to sell their assets to pay the tax are malarky. These tall tales were spun as part of a campaign funded by - unsurprisingly - a small handful of the richest families in the country.
Estate tax repeal might let them keep billions of dollars they truly do not need, but it would also plunge the country another $1 trillion (that's $1,000,000,000,000) into debt in the first ten years. The super wealthy families behind this obviously don't care that other people's children will have to pay to make up the difference or suffer deep cuts in social services for the neediest Americans. I hope you do care, and that you will vote against repeal.
Once again, I urge you to vote for fiscal sanity, for fairness, and for the 99 percent of Americans who benefit from these fair taxes on the super wealthy. Preserve the estate tax and keep our social contract intact!
I would like to know how you intend to vote on this issue, so please do write me back.
You can make your voice heard on this, instead of just reading about it on liberal blogs.
Take a few minutes to make a difference.