Patriotic Federalist

Benjamin Franklin once observed that “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Who would have thought the two would become so closely intertwined? The federal death tax is 35 percent this year, and many states take another cut. Thanks to a recent twist in federal law rescinding a credit for state taxes and replacing it with a deduction, buying the farm in 20 states carries a combined federal and state tax bill of more than 40 percent (including inheritance and estate taxes). The Garden State of New Jersey tops the list, where government takes a whopping 54.1 percent of an estate for a citizen’s privilege of pushing up daisies. Not far behind is Maryland; dying in the supposed “Free State” costs 50.9 percent. On the low end of the top 20 (although hardly low in reality), death in Tennessee costs 41.2 percent.

However, the cost of dying is also costing these states. According to a study by the Ocean State Policy Research Institute in Rhode Island, “from 1995 to 2007 Rhode Island collected $341.3 million from the estate tax while it lost $540 million in other taxes due to out-migration.” The study found that “the most significant driver of out-migration is the estate tax.” In neighboring Connecticut, a study found that from 2004 to 2007, estate-tax free states created double the number of jobs and grew 50 percent more quickly than states with estate taxes. Coincidence? We think not.

Responding to the rising expense of expiring, some states are looking to kill the death tax, a move that is long overdue. After all, as if costs of living weren’t high enough, in some states, it’s the cost of dying that will kill you.

Are your federal taxes too high? Well, stop whining, because, according to the Associated Press, taxes are at a 60-year low. Of course, the “60-year low” is true regarding only one particular statistic: Total federal tax dollars this year will be the lowest since 1950 when compared to the total size of the nation’s economy. (Not so true for the debt and deficit.) However, our individual tax rates are not based on the size of the economy, so this statistic is rather meaningless. Nevertheless, there is no doubt the Left will seize on this to say taxes are too low and must be raised, especially on the hated “rich” who benefited too much from President Bush’s tax cuts. Lost on the Left is the fact that the Bush cuts actually increased federal tax revenue — and the share of taxes paid by those in the top brackets. But since when has the Left let reality get in the way of increasing the size and power of government?

There are several reasons for this “60-year low.” The primary one is, as the AP so eloquently put it, “thanks to a weak economy,” which naturally leads to lower tax revenue as people become unemployed and corporate profits fall. Our ridiculously complicated tax code also leads to falling revenue. For example, thanks to the many new deductions and credits with which politicians bribe voters, a family with two children making $50,000 can avoid paying any federal income tax at all, some low-income families actually make a profit using the tax code, and, yes, the wealthy can significantly and legally cut their taxes using various loopholes.

Never fear, however. Many of us will soon pay more in taxes thanks to ObamaCare, assuming it survives. Some states have already raised taxes because, unlike Washington, they have to balance their budgets every year. There is no doubt that if the federal government doesn’t get its spending and monstrous tax code under control soon, America is headed for a fiscal train wreck unlike any seen before.

The South is increasingly becoming a solid GOP bastion, particularly since the 2010 elections. The trend is so pervasive that Democrats are defecting to the Republican Party in droves. Since the midterms 24 state senators and representatives in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia have switched sides and joined the GOP. The region started trending Republican on the presidential level in 1964 in support of Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, but many lower offices remained in Democrat hands.

In recent years, however, Republican support has trickled down to the state and local level. All but two of the states in the region have Republican governors, and most state legislatures are under Republican control. The reason for the change: “the increased liberalization of the Democratic Party,” as stated by Emory University political science professor Merle Black. National Democrats hope to start reversing the trend in 2012, when they will hold their national convention in Charlotte, NC.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf testified before Congress Thursday that ObamaCare will cost 800,000 jobs. During the hearing, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked, “[I]t’s been argued … that the new health care law will create jobs and increase labor force participation. But if I recall from your analysis, it was quite the opposite. Is that not the case?” Elmendorf replied simply, “Yes.”

Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) followed up by asking, “[I]n your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in [2020]-’21. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” Elmendorf replied again. “The way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that … employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000.”

“[I]t’s about jobs,” insisted then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) just days before the final vote on the so-called Affordable Care Act. “In its life, [the bill] will create four million jobs — 400,000 jobs almost immediately.” Au contraire, says the CBO, and their estimate still includes static scoring, all the phony “savings” and so forth that the law’s authors inserted to make it look better. Somehow, “we told you so” doesn’t quite satisfy.