Saturday, May 12th, 2007...4:58 pm
Giuliani to Farm Family: I’d Love to Hang With You, but You Just Aren’t Rich Enough
A story that has been bubbling up for the last few days from Iowa is that Rudy Giuliani snubbed a farm family in Iowa after they had taken up his request to have a campaign rally at their home.
Giuliani was hoping to do an event on the so-called “Death Tax,” but as it turned out, the family in question did not make enough money to take advantage of Republican promoted changes in the inheritance tax. That’s right, they were too poor to take advantage of a Republican tax cut. I know; it’s shocking.
In fact, here is a quote from family matriarch, Deb VonSprecken:
This is a horrible retraction we’re having to make. I’m in a state of shock, very hurt and embarrassed. I don’t understand why they don’t want to talk to normal people.
Over at Talking Points Memo, they are asking why with all of the minutes and column inches wasted on the John Edwards hair cut “story,” there has been only negligible national attention to this one.
What I’m wondering is this: the Republicans have been selling their changes in the inheritance tax as somehow benefitting suffering farmers. Here is a family that considers itself middle class, and yet they don’t benefit from the inheritance tax changes? Sort of puts a lie to the whole “we are just trying to help farmers and small buisiness people” BS that they have been shovelling for the last few years.
NB - John McCain has contacted the VonSprecken family.
3 Comments
May 12th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Particularly with the changes they made in it in the last Congress, the inheritance tax only kicks in when the value of the estate is in excess of $5 million.
We should quit cowering when Republicans talk about raising taxes and talk about this one for what it is: a tax that applies to plutocrats when they pass enormous amounts of wealth into the next generation by a method of succession based on birthright, not merit.
Further, we should make a point of noting who are the prinicipal funding sources behind this– much of the funding has come from members of the Walton family, who apparently feel cheated because they each inherited ‘only’ in the neighborhood of 20 billion dollars apiece when Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died.
Keep in mind that this is not wealth which the plutocrats who are receiving it ever worked for, ever earned or ever owned (if they had it would already be in their name). The fact that the inheritance tax isn’t 100% once one gets beyond the value of, say, a family farm or business is a free step ahead for those who are born to ‘privileged’ families.
May 12th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
In fact, the only difference between American plutocrats and British plutocrats is that in Britain they all get called, ‘Lord.’
And if the Waltons and others who are behind this ever got their way, well that might change too.
May 12th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Can you imagine the national press coverage if a major Democratic presidential candidate had made a similar gaffe? NYT political gossip columnist Maureen Dowd would be all over it, if a Dem did something like this. Since a Republican is involved, this incident will get close to zero coverage. How much John Edwards spends on a haircut is, after all, the critical issue of our time.
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