Taxing the Dead to Death

As I've mentioned before, I love getting e-mail from Sojourners. It's like having a conversation with a very young child, who in learning to speak, makes some interesting nonsense along the way. This issue was the Estate Tax, and how those mean old republicans want to make it go away. Jim Wallis himself is up on the soapbox this time.

let's call it a "common good tax" - is focused where it was intended, on those who have benefited so much from the opportunities of America. In a very real sense, the estate tax is a repayment for the public services and infrastructure that enable wealth creation - our transportation system of highways, bridges, and airports; our legal and educational systems; and many other investments we make in our society.

Earth to Jim, Earth to Jim, that's why we have several taxes ALREADY IN PLACE to handle those issues:

Federal Income Tax
Capital Gains Tax
State Income Tax
Property Tax
Federal Gasoline Tax
Sales Tax (most states)
Motor Vehicle Tax (as if standing in line at the DMV wasn't taxing enough)
Telecommunications Fees (Universal Service Fund)

It is only right that having benefited so much from the opportunities of America, the wealthiest should be obligated to return some of their good fortune to expand the opportunities of other Americans..

If you look at the list of taxes above, you'll see that those with the most are already paying more than most. What Democrats want is a chance to tax someone's income and wealth twice, maybe even three or four times, from generation to generation.

Is this the America that we want? One whose top policy priority is to make the rich richer while abandoning the most needed efforts to reduce poverty and protect the common good?

Enough with the class-struggle rhetoric. It's a shame that Sojourners has become a shill for Tax-N-Spend Democrats, as all this talk about faith ends up sounding hollow when it's just being used to justify an attempt at socialism.