Fw: Act now for fair and progressive taxation and needed revenue--FCNL

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Guthrie" <kathyguthrie@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:58 PM
Subject: Act now for fair and progressive taxation and needed revenue--FCNL

What can the Senate leadership possibly be thinking? The Senate is
expected to consider eliminating the estate and gift tax later in July,
a tax cut that would primarily benefit only the wealthiest few. And,
they are considering this when:

* the federal debt is expected to keep growing as far as the eye can see;
* the Medicare trust fund is already facing huge deficits in the years
ahead;
* programs that serve the poor and protect the environment are facing
budget cuts;
* millions lack access to quality, affordable housing, health care,
child care and nutrition;
* and the costs of the ongoing wars are continuing to mount.

The House already passed this unwise and unfair legislation in April
(H.R. 8). Your voice is needed now to make sure the Senate does not
make the same mistake.

ACT NOW

Please contact your senators. Urge them to oppose repealing the estate
and gift tax or any so-called "compromise" that would
dramatically reduce estate and gift taxes for the wealthiest. Repealing
this tax would be unwise and unfair, further shifting the tax burden
from the wealthiest to working families.

FCNL makes it easy to contact your senators by allowing you to send a
message directly from our web site,
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/MPPYEWIJDI/CHSLEWIJYJ/ Be sure to
personalize the sample letter to include your own views. You may also
wish to describe how this tax cut would affect you and your community.

BACKGROUND

This is no time for Congress to be considering more tax cuts for the
wealthiest.

* The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the cost
of repealing the estate and gift tax would be $290 billion between 2006
and 2015. However, the cost of repeal would increase sharply after
2012. From 2012 to 2021, the cost would be almost $1 trillion when
additional interest on the national debt is factored in, according to
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

* Repealing the estate tax would benefit only a very small number of
very wealthy heirs &ndash; less than two percent. Today, estates
valued at less than $1.5 million are not taxed at all ($3 million for a
couple), and, by 2009, only the value of estates exceeding $3.5 million
will be taxed ($7 million for a couple) according to CBPP.

* If the 2009 exemption level ($3.5 million for individuals and $7.0
million for couples) were made permanent, by 2011, only an estimated
8,500 estates would be subject to the tax, affecting the estates of
only 0.3 percent of the number of people who are expected to die that
year, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy
Center and CBPP. This exemption level is sufficient to exclude almost
all small businesses and farms from any estate tax.

* The Congressional Budget Office estimates the federal debt will grow
by $1 trillion over the next 10 years under current policies. Add the
anticipated costs of additional tax cut extensions, correcting the
alternative minimum tax, and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and the debt will grow $4.1 trillion by 2015, according to the CBPP.

* The Medicare Health Insurance trust fund paid out more than it
received in tax revenues beginning in 2004, according to the Social
Security Administration Trustees. Expenditures are expected to exceed
revenues at an accelerating rate of growth as far as the eye can see
unless Congress intervenes to raise revenues, cut benefits, or control
costs. The Social Security trust fund faces a similar future about 15
years from now.

* In the recently enacted congressional budget resolution for fiscal
year 2006 (FY06), Congress directed key authorizing committees to cut
mandatory spending by $35 billion over the next five years. Food stamps
and Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and elderly, are
being threatened with cuts, despite the fact that millions of eligible
poor still go hungry and lack quality, affordable health care.

* The FY06 budget resolution also calls for cutting funding for
domestic discretionary programs in FY06 by $13 billion below last
year&rsquo;s levels (adjusted for inflation) and by a total of $158
billion between FY06 and FY10. According to the CBPP, pending FY06
appropriations bills would cut programs such as education for
low-income children, community service block grants, low-income home
energy assistance, job training, child care block grants, and state
grants to enforce the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

* Meanwhile, the U.S. has already spent more than $300 billion waging
the "war on terror," the war in Iraq, and associated
reconstruction and security measures. Congress has spent this money
while at the same time cutting taxes deeply. Under even the most
optimistic scenario, the future cost of the ongoing wars is likely to
exceed another $150 billion to $200 billion, according to a House
Budget Committee Democratic Staff study.

Where are fairness and compassion for the poor and most vulnerable in
this? Where is the fiscal prudence? When will Congress stop deferring
our country&rsquo;s debts to future generations?

We at FCNL are concerned about the unprecedented disparity in income
and wealth between the rich and the poor today. We believe that the
wealthiest, those who have prospered the most from living in our
society, have the greatest responsibility to contribute to the common
good through a progressive tax structure. We also believe that Congress
has a responsibility to assure that there is sufficient revenue to
address pressing human needs and to meet social and environmental
challenges at home and abroad.

The estate and gift tax advances each of these values. It is fair, and
it provides much needed revenue. The value of most estates is well
below the taxable threshold, and the vast majority of the tax is paid
by a relatively few very wealthy estates.

This is no time for more tax cuts for the wealthiest. Repealing this
tax would reflect poor stewardship of the public trust and the common
good.

_______________________________________

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________________________________________
Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795
fcnl@fcnl.org * www.fcnl.org
phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330We seek a world free of
war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.
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