Spencer Cox: “it has been instructive to listen to the debate, because we are coming together, Democrats and Republicans, to…”

“it has been instructive to listen to the debate, because we are coming together, Democrats and Republicans, to appreciate that the death tax is unfair. It is unfair, because it is a double tax on the aftertax lifesavings of an individual. The only cavil that seems to be, not all but some Members on the minority side have is, first, that the death tax is expensive, by which they mean it raises revenue that we might lose if we repeal it, and, second, that it is a way to keep us from having two Americas of haves and have nots. But the truth is the death tax is expensive in a way that perhaps these people do not quite apprehend. It is expensive to collect. Every time we try to collect the death tax, we get thrown into a lawsuit that lasts for years. It is one of the most expensive taxes to collect that we have on the books. It reduces other taxes, such as income taxes that we collect, because as a tax avoidance scheme, people give away money during life and, thus, reduce, because they get a deduction, they reduce the taxes that otherwise they might owe. The Secretary of the Treasury, Lawrence Summers, in fact told us this when he was a Harvard economist just a few years ago that this tax might very well lose money for the Federal Government. So by repealing it, we should not worry that it is too expensive. The only expense that we are relieving is that on the American people.”