Sunday night’s debate was certainly something else, Save Jerseyans.
Plenty of almost comically aggressive attacks (including one candidate threatening to jail the other), lots of inappropriate Clinton smirking and even a Trump admission that he and Mike Pence don’t agree on what to do about ISIS (!), but no attention whatsoever afforded thus far this debate season to entitlement reform, cyber security, the heroin epidemic, or even higher education to name a few topics.
“Uninspiring” is the tamest way I can describe what we witnessed. Some things you can’t unsee, America.
We did get a little bit of tax-related rhetoric laced with a trace amount of substance in this latest installment of Trump v. Clinton: The Sitcom. The Donald endorses a traditional supply-side economics approach to taxation, cutting tax rates to stimulate growth and dissuade outsourcing. Hillary Clinton soft-peddled but unambiguously endorsed massive increases in the federal tax burden for America’s Middle Class.
Another gem? One that stood out for me?
Hillary recently declared her intention to raise the federal estate tax rate to 65%, a massive increase from the current 40% rate. That’s 40% higher than the 45% death tax rate she campaigned on throughout most of the current cycle.
Trump wants to repeal it.
Secretary Clinton is out of the mainstream on this one, folks. By a mile.
This isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican thing. Blue states across America are repealing death taxes. Even the People’s Republic of New Jersey is getting rid of its own (notwithstanding how messed up the deal was that got it done).
Why? Death taxes are among the major reasons why wealthy citizens are fleeing state like New Jersey for lower-tax states like Florida and, in the process, depressing states’ revenue streams.
The flight of David Tepper is the most famous recent example but N.J. has cumulatively lost billions over the past decade owing to its poisonous tax climate.
At the federal level, the death tax has devastated family businesses.
There will be nowhere left to run when Hillary Clinton takes the reins in January.
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