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The Empty Promise Of Estate Tax Repeal, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
The Empty Promise Of Estate Tax Repeal, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
UF Law Faculty Publications
The terms of the debate over the estate tax have been framed largely by abolitionists who have propounded an antitax message that portrays the estate tax as unambiguously harmful and threatening to ordinary families and small businesses. The attack on the estate tax is linked to a larger agenda of eliminating taxes on capital and capital income and dismantling the progressive elements of the federal tax system. The slogan of estate tax repeal, while effective in mobilizing antitax sentiment, makes no sense as a matter of tax policy because it downplays revenue costs, distributional effects, administrative concerns, and consequences for …
Turning Slogans Into Tax Policy, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Turning Slogans Into Tax Policy, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
UF Law Faculty Publications
The article examines the Bush Administration's tax cutting agenda, focusing on recent attempts to repeal the estate tax and to eliminate the shareholder-level income tax on corporate dividends. In each of these two seemingly disparate episodes, the Administration used dubious economic claims and populist rhetoric to promote tax cuts without considering revenue costs or distributional effects. The legislative outcomes, however, were driven largely by budget constraints and interest group politics. In conclusion, the article suggests that the Administration's tax cutting agenda is best understood in terms of politics and ideology rather than conventional tax policy.