MACDONALD: New Death Tax Should Be The End of Democrats

Anyone running from the left, no matter how far they have to go to pretend to be in the middle, should be roundly mocked. Forced to answer for the likes of Spangerger in Virginia and Mamdani in New York. They claim to be like you. To care for your interests. To defend you from [insert oppression or presumed evil], and if you elect them, they reveal themselves as the thing you should have feared.

The Dems in Virginia gave their voters whiplash, and Manadani has proven himself to be everything opponents claimed. Together, they are the portrait of the modern Democrat party. Culturally and financially bankrupt. The State and Party first, Citizens last. And as I’m fond of reminding people, there is no such thing as enough.

  • You can’t have too much government.
  • There is no limit to the number of regulations needed.
  • Interference takes precedent over individual rights.
  • No amount of money is enough to fund it.

Democrat-run government is peine forte et dure. A crushing weight increases until you are dead. And after you die, the Democrat government claims half of all your assets. Trust me, they will want and ask for more, but for now?

Currently, New York is one of a handful of states that imposes a death tax, a 16 percent levy on estates worth more than $7 million.

But last week, the tax wish list Mamdani circulated to state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed lowering the threshold to a mere $750,000 – which would clobber millions more New Yorkers all across the state with a punishing tax.

He would also hike the rate to a whopping 50 percent, two and a half times the next highest rate – 20 percent, charged in Hawaii and Washington state.

The worst feature of Mamdani’s tax proposal is its built-in “cliff,” meaning that once an estate hits $750,000 in value, the confiscatory 50 percent rate applies to all assets, not just the amount above that figure.

If you own a home, reaching the 750K estate asset value is not a high bar. People with moderate incomes who managed to accumulate even meager retirement savings but lacked the influence or legal savvy to hide them will be wiped out by Mamdani’s proposed death tax.

A retired surviving spouse could find themselves homeless with limited cash left on hand for much of anything in that circumstance. And while I’d like to think left-wing lawmakers elected to protect their citizens from this sort of abuse by third parties would have it in their heart to pile on a long list of exclusions, that can never be allowed to interfere with their addiction to government.

Progressive government makes everything more expensive. Starting a business, expansion, development, hiring, licensing and permitting, retention, payroll, and other compliance and inspection costs all increase costs before we even get to taxes which find their way into the cost of goods and services, again in the form of inflation, and if you manage to make your way through all of that, Democrats don’t just want half of what you might have in the bank, they want half of everything.

Loved ones would have to liquidate the assets to determine the final value, half of which the state would confiscate, ‘cuz they think they need it more than you do. What for? Fat government payrolls, pensions, costs, and programs, likely riddled with fraud, that they refuse to audit or sunset because it enriches the political and donor class, the non-profits of their friends and family, all of which keep these crooks in power.

It should not need to be said again, but I must.

A Democrat wouldn’t know affordability if it bit them in the ass. Not one thing they propose, have done, or might do makes life or living more affordable. Quite the opposite, and there are more than enough historical examples.

Pick a Dem-run city. Mayors and councils drive people out of the middle class and into poverty and homelessness while forcing businesses to leave because they can no longer afford to do business. City-run stores are a response to Democrats having made it too expensive for private companies to do business there.

It makes no difference if it passes as proposed or passes at all. It was suggested because the left spends first, rarely asks questions, and then demands more from you to balance the books. It is a grift that uses the police powers of government to finance things no one would freely donate their own money to if asked. The result is that the few things the government ought to do decay and decline as costs and tax burdens rise, all of which begs the more important question.

Despite how obvious this is, how do they keep getting elected?

One answer might explain their militant objection to laws like the SAVE America Act.

Passing it, getting it over the legal challenge hurdles, and ensuring that failure to enforce has actual criminal consequences might be the death of Democrat majorities for decades. Perhaps ever. Which gives me an idea.

What if people convicted of failing to enforce that, were it to become law, had to pay half the sum of their total assets as a fine? Is it ironic that such a levy would be unconstitutional when the death tax they propose is probably not?

Such a tax is, of course, its own punishment. It would drive not just wealthy investors and job creators away, but also reach much deeper into the population. Anyone with the means would be wise to sell now and escape to some other state or jurisdiction at the mere suggestion of such a tax.

Except for Democrats. You voted for this. You have to stay and pay your fair share, which appears to be half of everything you worked for your whole life.

Newsflash. All the other Dems want the same things as Spanberger, Mamadani, and the Dems running Blue States into the ground from sea to shining sea. Which also happens to be their pool of candidates for Congress and the presidency, and they will lie to get elected, then bend you over and tell you it’s for your own good.

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  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, award-winning blogger, and a member of the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor, Executive Editor, assistant editor, Editor, content curator, complaint department, Op-ed editor, gatekeeper (most likely to miss typos because he has no editor), and contributor at GraniteGrok.com. Steve is also a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, The Republican Volunteer Coalition, has worked for or with many state and local campaigns and grassroots groups, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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