Stealth campaign of super-wealthy to repeal estate tax exposed

["David Farber" <dave () farber net>]

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> From: Paul Levy <plevy () citizen org>
>
> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:13:42 -0400
>
> For IP, if you wish.....
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>
> Paul Alan Levy
> Public Citizen Litigation Group
> 1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
> Washington, D.C. 20009
> (202) 588-1000
> http://www.citizen.org/litigation
>
> > > > Valerie Collins 4/25/2006 1:05 PM >>>
> For Immediate Release:                                     Contact: Taylor Lincoln (202) 454-5197
> April 25, 2006                                                       Robert Yule (202) 588-7703
>                                                                      Christina Kasica (617) 432-2148, ext. 119 
>
> Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy Expose Stealth Campaign of Super-Wealthy to Repeal Federal Estate Tax
>
> Report Identifies 18 Families Behind Multimillion-Dollar Deceptive Lobbying Campaign
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. - The multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to repeal the federal estate tax has been aggressively led 
> by 18 super-wealthy families, according to a report released today by Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy at a 
> press conference in Washington, D.C. The report details for the first time the vast money, influence and deceptive 
> marketing techniques behind the rhetoric in the campaign to repeal the tax.
>
> It reveals how 18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the 
> estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall of $71.6 billion.
>
> The report, available at www.citizen.org, [specifically, at  http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf] 
> profiles the families and their businesses, which include the families behind Wal-Mart, Gallo wine, Campbell's soup, 
> and Mars Inc., maker of M&Ms. Collectively, the list includes the first- and third-largest privately held companies in 
> the United States, the richest family in Alabama and the world's largest retailer.
>
> These families have sought to keep their activities anonymous by using associations to represent them and by forming a 
> massive coalition of business and trade associations dedicated to pushing for estate tax repeal. The report details the 
> groups they have hidden behind - the trade associations they have used, the lobbyists they have hired, and the 
> anti-estate tax political action committees, 527s and organizations to which they have donated heavily. 
>
> In a massive public relations campaign, the families have also misled the country by giving the mistaken impression 
> that the estate tax affects most Americans. In particular, they have used small businesses and family farms as poster 
> children for repeal, saying that the estate tax destroys both of these groups. But just more than one-fourth of one 
> percent of all estates will owe any estate taxes in 2006. And the American Farm Bureau, a member of the anti-estate tax 
> coalition, was unable when asked by The New York Times to cite a single example of a family being forced to sell its 
> farm because of estate tax liability.
>
> "This report exposes one of the biggest con jobs in recent history," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. 
> "This long-running, secretive campaign funded by some of the country's wealthiest families has relied on deception to 
> bamboozle the public not only about who must pay the estate tax, but about how repealing it will affect the country."
>
> Said Lee Ferris, senior organizer for estate tax policy at UFE, "It's time for the majority of Americans who support 
> the estate tax to speak out, and not let a handful of wealthy families sway Congress to twist the tax laws for their 
> own benefit. Polls now show that most Americans support this tax and the revenue it yields to pay for vital services, 
> especially given our nation's huge deficit."
>
> While they extol the hard work of individual farmers and small businesses, most of the 18 families have been wealthy 
> for generations; only five still include the people who first earned the family fortune. Members of the families are 
> far less likely than most Americans to have paid taxes on their wealth; to a large extent, that wealth lies in assets 
> that have appreciated but, unlike paychecks, have never been taxed.
>
> These super-rich families have spent millions in personal wealth and used their companies' resources and lobbying power 
> in repeated attempts to influence members of Congress to repeal the tax. They have financed groups who have launched 
> multimillion-dollar attack ads against Republican and Democratic senators alike, including former Senate Minority 
> Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Olympia Snow (R-Maine), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Mark 
> Pryor (D-Ark.), Lincoln Chaffee (R-R.I.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).
>
> The stakes of the campaign are great, not only for the super-wealthy families, but for the public. If the families' 
> repeal bid succeeds, it will cost the U.S. Treasury a trillion dollars in the first decade - roughly what it would cost 
> to provide health insurance for every uninsured person in the United States.
>
> "The estate tax should be regarded as just paying back to the country for all the wonderful things it's made possible 
> for the people who have that wealth," said Bill Gates Sr. in an audio statement played at the press conference. "I 
> don't think there's any great societal goal being served by inherited wealth. And certainly there's no sensible 
> argument that I can think of for insisting on being able to pass the last penny of $100 million on to your three kids."
>
> Added Elizabeth Letzler, an investment manager from New York who will be subject to the estate tax and who spoke at the 
> press conference, "The current estate tax structure should permit any wealthy household to pass on a legacy of 
> financial security, education and family heirlooms to the next generations." She challenged the families showcased in 
> the report: "Do something spectacular during your life-time investing in the social welfare and well-being of the 
> children and grandchildren at the bottom of the pyramid." Her daughter Stephanie, also in attendance, said, "If keeping 
> the estate tax means a step closer to a debt-free treasury, a step closer to improved health care, Social Security, 
> education, and every other program that makes me proud to be an American, show me where to sign the check."
>
> Paul Newman, actor and founder of Newman's Own food company, agreed in a separate statement: "For those of us lucky 
> enough to be born in this country and to have flourished here, the estate tax is a reasonable and appropriate way to 
> return something to the common good. I'm proud to be among those supporting preservation of this tax, which is one of 
> the fairest taxes we have."
> ###
> Public Citizen (www.citizen.org) is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. 
> United for a Fair Economy (www.faireconomy.org) is a national, non-partisan, nonprofit organization that spotlights the 
> growing economic divide in the United States.
>
>
>
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