By John McCallum
Editor 

Here's to spending on booze, women and movies

Write to the Point

 

Last updated 12/7/2017 at 12:40pm



It seems to me there used to be a “Bah, humbug” award for people whose comments and/or actions exemplify those from fictional miser Ebenezer Scrooge.

If there isn’t such an award, there should be. Either way, I’d like to nominate someone for its receipt this year: Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Grassley is quoted on several points in a Dec. 2 Des Moines Register story about proposed changes to the federal estate tax enacted as part of recently passed tax reform measures. Both the House and Senate would double the exemption where the 40 percent tax kicks in, which are currently set at $5.5 million for individuals and $11 million for couples.

Grassley and other Republicans argue the estate tax harms family-owned businesses, including family farms of which Iowa has plenty. The Register’s story cites non-partisan research showing otherwise, including data from the Internal Revenue Service indicating that of the 5,219 estate tax returns filed in 2016 nationwide — nationwide! — in which taxes were owed, only 682 owned farm assets.

Presented with these facts, Grassley remained adamant in a Nov. 29 interview about the need for changing the tax, arguing that it “penalizes savers without touching spenders,” the Register’s Jason Noble writes.

“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people who are investing,” Grassley is quoted saying, “as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Wow! The scope of that comment is breathtaking, and disappointing, to say the least.

As I read it, I could hear Scrooge in my head, generally in the late-actor George C. Scott’s voice since it’s his rendition of Charles Dickens’ character I enjoy the most.

“Are there no prisons,” Scrooge asks of several men hitting him up for a charitable contribution at Christmas.

“And the Union workhouses, are they still in operation?” he asks when told the prisons are in full operation.

Grassley’s statement boggles the mind, and it lit up the Twitter-verse once published. It insinuates only business owners are worthy of special consideration when it comes to finances. The rest of the rank and file who don’t own businesses are by default, guilty of spending our money unwisely.

Wow! Is this what our leaders think about the rest of us minions? That simply because we aren’t business owners, we’re essentially slackers, wasters of what wealth we have?

I know people will be quick to point out that the tax reform heading towards reconciliation and a White House signature contain tax breaks for everyone, including those of us who might want to take in an occasional movie as relief from holding our noses against the daily grindstone of trying to make ends meet. Never mind the booze, or the women Grassley intimates we also covet.

There are also plenty of valid studies showing most of the tax break benefits going to corporations and the wealthy who don’t need them. And that what’s left for the rest of us slackers will disappear in a few years time.

But that’s another argument. Mine is about how easily Grassley — and others — assume that unless you own a business, you are not a contributing member of society.

I don’t own a business, but I bust my ass for one. Many, many others do the same because after all, businesses need employees.

We spend our money keeping a roof over our heads, trying to heat it when it’s cold along with putting some food on our table and some for our children if we have them. We put gas in our vehicles so we can get to work, pay our taxes to keep our public services running and if we have anything left, give a little to charity and maybe invest in our future.

We are employees and frankly, we make this country run just as much as those who own businesses. And if Grassley were before me, I’d tell him how I feel, which I can’t write here.

For now, I’ll just say “Bah, humbug” to your estate tax repeal.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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