Fw: Emergency Petition to Save Fair Taxes

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org Political Action"
<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriam@panix.com>
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 12:34 PM
Subject: Emergency Petition to Save Fair Taxes

Dear MoveOn member,

As soon as the Senate returns to Washington in September, they'll be
voting on the permanent elimination of the Estate Tax for the richest 2
percent of Americans.1 Our federal deficit already exceeds $400
billion,2 if the Estate Tax is repealed millionaires will save another $1
trillion dollars in the first ten years and that tax burden will shift to
ordinary Americans and future generations.3 The vote will be really
close, Republican leaders are just one or two votes away.

Responsible Democratic senators have been able to hold the line on the
Estate Tax for some time, but now a few Democrats are starting to waver.
They continue to feel heat from President Bush and the tax-cut lobby, but
they haven't heard from you. That's why we're launching an emergency
petition to let the Senate know that we're paying attention and are ready
to hold them accountable. If we can gather 200,000 signatures by next
week, we will deliver them to senators in key states.

Will you sign our petition before the Senate vote?

http://political.moveon.org/estatetax/?id=5934-3285954-KFLN7ylwXX6eBRg_MBdS.w&t=3

Eliminating the Estate Tax amounts to an assault on middle class America.
Losing over $1 trillion in tax revenue at a time when the federal deficit
already exceeds $400 billion is a big deal--it is money that we're
currently investing in education, tuition assistance, Social Security,
Medicaid and so many other critical programs. Simply put, eliminating the
Estate Tax forces working Americans and our children to pick up a trillion
dollar tab that used to be paid by the wealthy. President Bush and his
allies in Congress are telling us it is more important for them to protect
Paris Hilton's inheritance than to protect us.

Even as President Bush tells us we can't afford to pay out Social
Security, even during a time of war, he wants to give more to the
super-rich at the expense of the rest of us and our children. Republicans
are well known for passing laws that benefit their friends--and
eliminating the Estate Tax will personally benefit President Bush, Vice
President Cheney and 11 other cabinet members up to $344 million.4
Democrats shouldn't be helping them; they should be fighting for all of
us.

Here are some facts about the Estate Tax:

* Currently, only 2 percent of the wealthiest families in America pay an
Estate Tax.5
* Contrary to Bush's rhetoric, repealing the Estate Tax could actually
hurt many small farms and businesses.6
* Many of the super-rich farmers that are affected by the estate tax
aren't really farmers at all--they're rich people who own farms and
ranches and live elsewhere.7
* Repealing the Estate Tax would cost us over $1 trillion in the first
10 years, and the burden of the tax income lost from collecting this
tax from the richest Americans will be shifted to the working middle
class.8
* Repealing the Estate Tax will severely hurt charities and
non-profits.9

As Newsweek put it, eliminating the Estate Tax would "create a new class
of landed aristocrats who could inherit billions tax-free, invest the
money, watch it compound tax-free and hand it down tax-free to their
heirs."10 The Estate Tax has successfully worked to limit the
concentration of wealth and level the playing field by ensuring that the
richest Americans pay their fair share for close to 90 years. We should be
working to increase opportunities for working people, not make it easier
to pass wealth from generation to generation for free.

Just last week, hundreds of thousands of us gathered to honor the
sacrifices made by our soldiers in Iraq--and their moms and families. Many
military families still struggle to raise enough money to send body armor
to their sons and daughters in Iraq, yet Congress is poised to pass a tax
break for their wealthy friends. With all the problems we face today,
saving money for billionaires should not be a priority.

Bush has weighed in and his tax-cut lobbying machine has, too--will you?
Click here to sign the petition:

http://political.moveon.org/estatetax/?id=5934-3285954-KFLN7ylwXX6eBRg_MBdS.w&t=4

Thanks for all you do,

--Eli, Nita, Tom, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, August 26th, 2005

P.S. After you sign the petition, the most important thing you can do is
forward this to your friends.

Sources:

1. United for a Fair Economy Fact Sheet: Who Pays the Estate Tax
http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/ETWhoPays.html

2. Center for American Progress: Progress Report, April 13, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=852

3.Center for American Progresss: Tax Dodging
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=851

4. House Committee on Democratic Reform Fact Sheet: Estimated Tax Savings
of Bush Cabinet if the Repeal of the Estate Tax Is Made Permanent
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=850

5. United for a Fair Economy Fact Sheet: Who Pays the Estate Tax
http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/ETWhoPays.html

6. United for a Fair Economy Fact Sheet: Estate Tax and Family Farms
http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/ETFarms.html

7. United for a Fair Economy Fact Sheet: Estate Tax and Family Farms
http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/ETFarms.html

8. CBPP: House to Vote on Permanent Repeal of Estate Tax
http://www.cbpp.org/4-12-05tax.htm

9. United for a Fair Economy Fact Sheet: Estate Tax and Charitable Giving
http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/ETCharity.html

10. "Why Your Tax Cut Doesn't Add Up," Newsweek, April 12, 2004
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4660655/site/newsweek/

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION
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