Wednesday, August 02, 2006

the other side of summer

it sounds like good news - the house recently passed a bill to increase minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25. this would be the first increase in minimum wage since 1997. cost of living has certainly increased in the last ten years, so such a move is long overdue...

however, republicans attached to this bill an inheritance tax cut - which only affects the superrich (the wealthiest 0.5 percent of the nation). sojourners breaks down the stats this way:
  • 14.9 million workers earn minimum wage
  • this would increase their annual wage by $1,200
  • the estate tax cuts would benefit 8.200 people
  • their average benefit would be $1.4 million
i suppose i shouldn't be surprised that such a thing would happen. however, it feels a lot like helping people with one hand while pushing them down with the other.

i hear people say things like, "well, if you were that wealthy, wouldn't you want to pass along that wealth to your kids?" of course i would want to provide for my kids as much as possible - but if had that much money, would my kids really need that extra $1.4 million? would having another yacht make their life that much better? i know, i know - they've just got to have that bugatti...

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