‘Bernie’ Clinton’s Tax Plan

Greed: A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed. A continual lust for more.

Envy: A feeling of resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions or qualities or wealth.

Someone might want to tell Hillary Clinton that greed and envy are two of the seven deadly sins. She’s guilty of both.

Her new revised tax plan would raise the estate tax to as high as 65 percent — up from 40 percent today. She would also apply the hated death tax to as many as twice as many estates.

It’s one of her dumbest ideas yet — which is saying a lot. It won’t raise any revenue to speak of. It’s a bow-tied gift to estate tax lawyers and accountants. Many studies have found that the cost to the economy of taxing a lifetime of savings more than outweighs any benefits. It actually could end up costing the Treasury money by reducing investment in family businesses that are a major engine of growth for our economy.

But Hillary wants to take us back to the 1970s. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, the plan would “impose a 50 percent rate that would apply to estates over $10 million a person, a 55 percent rate that starts at $50 million a person, and the top rate of 65 percent, which would affect only those with assets exceeding $500 million for a single person and $1 billion for married couple.”

What Hillary doesn’t get is this: anyone who’s smart enough to make half a billion dollars is smart enough to find a way to dodge this confiscatory tax. That’s the whole history of the death tax — the very rich never pay it.