The relentless effort of Republicans to relieve the rich of any and all taxation has caused the dramatic shift in disparity between the OBSCENELY Rich and the rest of us. The grotesquely rich already buy anything they want from government. Eliminating estate taxes assures that every subsequent generation of rich will have even more power because the Supreme Court Council of Cardinals equates money with speech.

Republicans push for a permanent aristocracy – The Washington Post by Dana Milbank

This is the ultimate perversion of the tea party movement, which began as a populist revolt in 2009 but has since been hijacked by wealthy and corporate interests. The estate tax has been part of American law in some form since 1797, according to the advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness, a shield against the sort of permanent aristocracy our founders fought to rid themselves of.

It had long been a conservative ideal, and the essence of the American Dream, to believe that everybody should have an equal shot at success. But in their current bid to end the estate tax, Republicans could create a permanent elite of trust-fund babies.

The estate tax was a meaningful check on a permanent aristocracy as recently as 2001, when there were taxes on the portion of estates above $675,000; even then there were plenty of ways for the rich to shelter money for their heirs. …

“It sounds to me like there’s a lot of wealth envy in this country,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) complained while serving as chairwoman of the Rules Committee debate Tuesday. The bill abolishing the estate tax, she said, “will draw a line in the sand.”

Yes, it will: between the wealthiest two-tenths of 1 percent — and everybody else.

Republicans push for a permanent aristocracy – The Washington Post