单选题
{{B}}Abolishing the estate-tax{{/B}}
Recently, about 120 wealthy Americans had signed an appeal to oppose
abolishing the estate-tax. President Bush has included abolishing estate-tax in
his $1.6 trillion taxcut proposal. Normally when "dozens" of Americans join in a
political activity, it is not particularly noteworthy, but in this case the
dozens include: George Soros, a billionaire financier; Warren Buffett, an
investor listed as America's fourth-richest person; the philanthropist David
Rockefeller Jr.; and William Gates Sr., a Seattle lawyer and father of America's
richest man, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates.
It was really
refreshing to see Buffett and George Soros and a number of other extremely
wealthy celebrities stand up in opposition to President Bush's proposed
abolishment of estate tax. While the policy has some emotional attractions—it
would protect the inheritors of some small businesses from having to sell the
companies to pay taxes, and it is true that most people have been taxed on their
savings once already—in practice the tax abolishment would mainly be an extra
for a very small number of very, very rich people.
Buffett and
his company cite these factors in their appeal calling for opposition to the
estate-tax abolishment. They also discuss something that's equally emotional and
far more complex; the principle of meritocracy. The idea that everyone in
America has an equal chance, that our fates are not determined by accidents of
birth, is one of our core values. And nowhere is this principle more respected
than in the technology economy; entrepreneurship almost by definition expresses
the principle of meritocracy.
The applicants argue that
abolishing the tax, in the long run, will result in either increased taxes or
cuts to Medicare, Social Security, environmental protection and other government
programs.
Abolishing the estate-tax "would enrich the heirs of
America's millionaires and billionaires, while hurting families who struggle to
make ends meet," the appeal says.
An old commercial says: "He
made his money in the old-fashioned way: He earned it." There was a perfect
parody of the ad in which the line read: "He made his money in the old-fashioned
way: He inherited it." In 20 or 50 or 100 years. Which of these lines will be
right? Buffet and Soros and their friends, to their credit, want to help make
the first one real. Let's hope this is only one step in that process.