Green Party of New York State
http://www.gpnys.org/
Hawkins for US Senate
Media Release
For More Information:
Howie Hawkins 315-425-1019, hhawkins@igc.org
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968, green_sallyk@yahoo.com
www.hawkinsforsenate.org
June 5, 2006
For More Information: Howie Hawkins 315-425-1019, hhawkins@igc.org
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968, green_sallyk@yahoo.com
Hawkins Calls on Senate to Oppose Efforts to Slash the Estate Tax
NEW YORK -- Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee for US Senate, urged the Senate today to defeat various proposals to slash or
eliminate the estate tax.
The House voted 272 to 162 to repeal the estate tax in April 2005. The Senate is expected to vote on estate tax repeal in June of this year. If passed, estate tax repeal would enable the heirs of multi-millionaires and billionaires to keep an extra $161 billion in inherited fortunes by 2013 while adding to the deficit. Between 2014 and 2023, it would cost $820 billion in lost revenue.
"This huge tax giveaway would primarily benefit the 700 largest estates worth more than $20 million. Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and other founding fathers understood the threat to democracy posed by allowing dynasties of great wealth to be handed down from one generation to the next. In 'The Rights of Man,' Paine argued for tax rates that rise to 'the point of prohibition (100 percent)' on the largest estates. Cutting the estate tax would increase the deficit, deepen the cutbacks, shift the tax burden onto those less able to pay and jeopardize the Medicare and Social Security on which millions of Americans depend. America already leads the industrial world in economic inequality - we should be cutting that divide, not increasing it," noted Hawkins.
The estate tax is a wealth inheritance tax, which exempts more than 98 percent of Americans. Only estates over $1 million for individuals and $2 million for couples are taxed today. The threshold rises incrementally to $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples in 2009 -- exempting all but the top one-half of one percent of estates. The estate tax was initially enacted in 1916 in response to the deepening economic inequalities of the Gilded Age.
"As the rich get richer, they use their wealth to control government and buy politicians, making politics a hostage of money. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it, 'we can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth in a few hands, but we can't have both'. Life for the vast majority of the people is better when government invests in education, health care, environmental protection, and other services that increase prosperity for all - and worse when it promotes the fortunes of the super-rich at the expense of public goods and services," noted Hawkins.
Since it is unlikely that the Senate can muster the 60 votes needed to permanently repeal the estate tax, efforts are focused on proposals to gut it instead. For example, Sen. Kyl's plan to exempt the first $10 million of a married couple's estate from the tax ($5 million for an individual) and to tax the remainder at 15 percent, the current capital gains rate, would cost the federal treasury 84 percent as much as repealing the estate tax entirely. According to the Tax Policy Center, more than half the benefits of dropping the estate tax rate from 45 percent to 15 percent will go 700 estates worth more than $20 million, and they will be handed tax breaks averaging $9 million each in 2011 alone.
Repealing or drastically reducing the estate tax would cut charitable giving as well by eliminating the powerful tax incentive to make charitable donations. A study from the Congressional Budget Office shows that if there had been no estate tax in 2000, U.S. charities would have lost $13 to $25 billion in donations in that one year alone. Such losses could seriously weaken the enormous variety of important organizations supported by bequests and foundations, from soup kitchens to universities.
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Howie Hawkins for US Senate
Media Release
www.hawkinsforsenate.org
June 4, 2006
For More Information: Howie Hawkins 315-425-1019, hhawkins@igc.org
Sally Kim, (518) 364-2968, green_sallyk@yahoo.com
Hawkins Opposes Bush Push for Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee for US Senate, called today for the Senate to reject a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
President Bush made support for the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment the focus of his Saturday radio address. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the amendment this week.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) also supports outlawing same-sex marriages, but opposes a constitutional amendment as the means to do so. Clinton has opposed same-sex marriages since her husband signed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
"It saddens me that politicians like Bush and Clinton feel the need to attack the rights of individuals to affirm their life commitment to one another. Our political leaders should be helping to build families, not tear them apart. The provision of full legal rights for all individuals regardless of their sexual orientation is long overdue in our country," noted Hawkins.
The Green Party has a long tradition of promoting full civil rights to gays and lesbians. Jason West, the Green Party Mayor of New Paltz, helped launch the nationwide movement for marriage equality when he began performing marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian countries.
Rev. Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff, the Green Party candidate for the Illinois State Treasurer, officiated a wedding ceremony uniting two women on May 27 in Chicago. Following the ceremony, the couple went to Canada for a marriage certificate. Canada made same-sex marriages legal five years ago.
"The right to marry is a fundamental human right. If two people love each other and wish to enter into a permanent legal relationship as equal partners in a marriage, they should be free to do so. As a Green, I am very proud of the leadership role played by New Paltz Mayor Jason West in refusing to participate in the denial of equal rights to all Americans," Hawkins added.
The Empire State Pride Agenda, a civil rights organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, identifies 1,138 rights and responsibilities from the federal government and another 700 rights and responsibilities from New York government that are bestowed on partners in civil marriage. These rights and responsibilities include health insurance coverage, medical decision-making authority for a spouse, inheritance rights, divorce, child adoption, immunity from having to testify against a spouse in court, pensions, and Workers Compensation death benefits.
"President Bush is pushing for a ban on same-sex marriage because he wants to divert the American people's attention from his disastrous military and economic policies. Let's focus instead on prosecuting war profiteers and corporate criminals, not people who love one another," said Hawkins.
