Are you a campaign donator?

The current dust-up in the Senate over the repeal of the Estate Tax (which fortunately failed) and an insightful op-ed piece by Paul Krugman got me thinking on an issue of constant bemusement. Why do a large number of people (mainly republican voters) support a repeal of a tax they will never pay? Why would they vote for senators and representatives that don't actually pay attention to their needs?

According to the poll linked above (which could easily be completely made-up) 68% of americans support the repeal of the estate tax. Only about 1% of Americans will ever actually have to deal with an estate tax. There's a huge disparity there.

I think that if a person who had never heard about the estate tax and heard it explained as a tax on "property left by people who die" he would (quite reasonably) assume that it's a tax his children will have to pay after he dies. And if the question is "How would you like to not have to pay taxes ever again?" I think they'd get a 100% positive response rate.

As a general principle, getting people to say they don't like taxes is a pretty easy thing to do. Starting with that it's pretty easy to see why the repeal of the estate tax is "popular".

But if we accept the premise that many supporters of the estate tax don't understand anything about it, then one wonders, why the estate tax is even an issue? If it only affects half-a-percent of the country, why are the republicans (and some democrats) in congress stomping around and treating this as a major issue?

Krugman's article makes it quite obvious that the repeal of the estate tax is all about paying back campaign donors. If, for example, you're the family that owns Walmart (the Waltons, I believe) the estate tax is a real pain in your ass. Fortunately, you are the richest family in the world and so you can afford to have a team of lawyers and accountants shuttle your wealth into tax-shelters and pay only a small portion of the taxes you actually owe. And once the accountants have done all they can, then it's time for the politicians to take their cut. And instead of paying the billions of dollars you owe, maybe you can squeak by without paying a dime.

So, ask yourself, "Am I a major campaign donor? Do I give hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians and their political parties every year?" If the answer is yes, congratulations, you are actually represented in our system of government. If the answer is no, well, like the other 99.5% of american, you can be assured that whatever the government is doing, it's not doing it for your benefit.