I wouldn’t be so sure about the “populist cause” part. I think what you’re seeing is more like a mix of populist apathy and populist ignorance–people who know what the estate tax is and that Republicans want to repeal it just don’t care, while the rest of the populace doesn’t have clue one that anything at all is going on.

It’s all just politics to draw out their Republican money base come election time.
It also sickens me how they’ve brought gay marriage back into the debate. It’s
just so manipulative I could scream!

Oh boy, I can hardly wait for the next election. How many of the Dems that voted this down will now be tarred with another “voted for higher taxes” brush come November?

well, Brad, let’s hope Bush doesn’t follow that up with “strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
I don’t think I can handle that.

I am surprised by this victory for common sense and a meritocracy, actually.

The fact is that this proves how undemocratic the Filibuster really is.

The estate tax should have been repealed, but the Senate rules give 41 Democrats the power to reject things supported by 59 Senators.

The filibuster is undemocratic and should be abolished completely.

The fact that 41 obstructionist Democrats rejected this means nothing, because in most societies, a 57-41 vote comes out in the favor of 57.

The fact is that estate tax is a repressive tax which unduly punishes small businesses, and the Democrats don’t mind that at all, because they hold all business in contempt.

I still find it remarkable how successful the GOP has been in turning the repeal of the estate tax into a populist cause.

Two words: Talk radio.

My wife is a tax attorney, and she often fields questions from relatives worried that their children or grandchildren won’t get a dime from their estate due to the “death tax.” She’ll patiently explain that, if they’re really worried about that, the gift-tax exclusion allows them to transfer up to $12,000 per year to each potential heir, and they’re always like, “Oh. Well that’s more than they’d be getting in my will.”

And then comes the inevitable, “But they were saying on the radio…”

“Republican backers had acknowledged they were short of votes for full repeal, but they had hoped to offer an alternative that would have reduced the tax rate and exempted all but the wealthiest estates from the tax.”

Um, all but the wealthiest estates are already exempt from the tax. A whopping 2% of estates are subject to any tax at all.

Ya know, Obi Wan CLAIMS that he will become more powerful after he’s struck down but he doesn’t. He just sits around offering advice to Luke after he’s struck down. So, if GWB is struck down he’d just become a voice in V-Ben’s ear: “Trust the Porn, V-Ben.”

I still find it remarkable how successful the GOP has been in turning the repeal of the estate tax into a populist cause.

See Brad – you fail to realize that anyone with bootstraps can get rich! Why wouldn’t we want the tax repealed??!

I know I’ll regret this, but…

The fact is that this proves how undemocratic the Filibuster really is.

The Senate itself is not democratic, so it would not be surprising at all that its tools aren’t.

Krugman: “In particular, advocates of estate tax repeal have never been able to provide a single real example of a family farm sold to pay estate taxes.”

Pay no attention to that pointy-headed academic. Everyone knows that taxes are bad, therefore, using the power of LOGIC!, we see that the biggest taxes, the ones that the megastuporific rich have to pay, are the most bad. It’s just that simple. Oh, and no one wants the guvment to take the fam’ly farm, now, do we?

Quod erat somethin’ somethin’.

I still find it remarkable how successful the GOP has been in turning the repeal of the estate tax into a populist cause.

I can do better than Travis’ two words.

One word: Lies.

you say that, jpj, but do any of us really want a glowing Worst President Ever in ghost form walking around advising people?

I still find it remarkable how successful the GOP has been in turning the repeal of the estate tax into a populist cause.

Well, you know that family farmers have to sell their farms to pay the estate tax, right? And also, there are family farms that have to be sold in order to pay the estate tax! And by the way, every single family farm that’s ever existed has had to have been sold to pay estate taxes! Further, family farmers are being forced …

ad infinitum.

… LET GO, JEB….

… UH, UH, WHAT I MEAN IS, UTILISATE THAT FORCE, JEB, LET IT GUIDE-IFY YOUR ACTITIONS….

(lets go of steering wheel, hurtles off road into gorse bushes, bumps into largish pebble and explodes)

Ginger Yellow said,

Um, all but the wealthiest estates are already exempt from the tax. A whopping 2% of estates are subject to any tax at all.

you exaggerate, ginger. it’s like 1.16%. what astounds me is how many people in my business–I’m in agriculture–support total repeal, even though it wouldn’t affect them or any of their neighbors. the old exemption was $4 million for a couple. we’ve got big farms down here in arkansas, but you’d have to be mighty big to exceed that threshold. however, the farm groups dangle these tantalizing numbers in front of them–like, your property went for $500 an acre when you went into farming and now it’s $3,000! that means a generation from now it’ll be worth $18,000 an acre, no?

the farm groups did a very good job of repositioning the estate tax as the “death” tax. they even tax you when you’re dead! they portray it as unfair because it’s double taxation, first when the money to earn the property is earned and then again when you die. this is ludicrous, of course; it’s changing hands and passing to someone who didn’t earn it. if you have to have taxes, taxing someone who did not earn what they’re getting seems like a pretty good choice.

If things keep going the way they are, it’s possible that my partner’s father’s estate might be subject to an estate tax, although realistically not because A) he mostly owns property and that’s not looking especially stable to me and B) he has, you know, lawyers and accountants and shit.

But hey, if the estate tax is repealed, my partner and I might eventually have some extra cash to spend on liberal causes and homo nups and the like!

You, go, Gary! Repeal that estate tax! I’m gonna give me some bigass donations to Greenpeace and MoveOn! We’re buyin’ us a hybrid car and supporting Gore for President of the World!

the Senate rules give 41 Democrats the power to reject things supported by 59 Senators

Only one problem there, Gary-boy. There weren’t 59 Senators in favor of this. If there had been, I imagine they’d have been able to come up with one measly vote to get the thing passed.