Independent Senate candidate Gordon Howie thinks his Republican opponent Mike Rounds took a beating today. Howie does what a smart challenger should... rubs it in:
Funny that Rounds could motivate both Howie to get active in the Republican Party and motivate me to abandon that party. I'd like to hear from Rep. Noem herself whether Rounds's death-tax votes had anything to do with her political aspirations... but I do find it interesting that Howie is buttering up Noem... perhaps as penance for bolting the party and challenging their favorite this year?
Clever. It's not harsh, it's witty and sharp. I'll give him points for it. But he's still wrong about nearly everything else.
Deb, I have a sneaky feeling Lee Stranahan produced that video.
Maybe, Roger, though I didn't see him slinking around Mitchell, and he'd have had to have been on the bus immediately afterward. Howie does have a sense of humor and a deeper firsthand knowledge of South Dakota political history than outside consultants.
I don't think that the phrase "good for South Dakota" means exactly what Howie thinks it means....
"I don't think that the phrase "good for South Dakota" means exactly what Howie thinks it means...."
Standing up to crony capitalism is good for South Dakota.
The fact of the death tax matter is now that we lost our exemption for putting the death tax into South Dakota's treasury we SEND IT ALL TO WASHINGTON!!!
As a person who grew up with Westerns, I find it objectionable that Howie uses the theme from Rawhide, a television classic with something he calls a "truth train".
At least use a part the Wagon Train theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmhkkTFpteQ
If he keeps this up, someone is going to call him out as being the political equivalent of a drugstore cowboy, all hat and no cattle
Did marriage equality come up during any of the forums?
Question: Which would have cost more to survivors holding a typical family farm operation in South Dakota? The state's former death tax, or the federal government's death tax?
I was told the bite from the state was much more costly to survivors.
Was Wagon Train's cook Charlie Woster related to any South Dakotans?
Can you imagine having to pay some taxes if you inherit over $5,340,000?
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Estate-Tax
This is really a grass roots issue for South Dakotans?
I suppose using the word "death" is a useful political scare tactic as in "death" panels, but I would hope South Dakotans are smart enough to see through something that silly.
Can someone please explain to me why trust fund babies should get their income tax free from the trust while someone working to earn $15 an hour gets hit with both payroll taxes and income taxes?
I haven't read Piketty's book, but from the reviews he does seem to make a solid case that we are using the tax to code to create an economic aristocracy.
bcb-the original term was estate tax and wingnuts changed it to death tax to,as you surmised,scare and rile up their base. The old b,s, about family farms having to be sold to pay the tax was repeated over and over by wingnuts except it wasn't true.
Charlie, you know that whatever taxes go from SD to DC, is less than the amount of money SD receives from DC.
Do you have an equivalent complaint about federal tax money entering SD? (I'm not being glib or snarky.)
Second question: Do you justify one, but not the other? How? What is your thinking about that?
When we talk South Dakota taxes, please keep in mind that in the last 40 years nearly every tax and fee increases were put in place by the no or lower taxes Republican Party.
But those Republicans Roger are called RINO's. They aren't TRUE Republicans.
Deb at the time we ended SD's estate tax the Federal exemptions were structured historically as shown here
Year ExclusionAmount Max/Top tax rate
2001 $675,000 55%
2002 $1 million 50%
2003 $1 million 49%
2004 $1.5 million 48%
2005 $1.5 million 47%
2006 $2 million 46%
2007 $2 million 45%
2008 $2 million 45%
2009 $3.5 million 45%
2010 Repealed
2011 $5 million 35%
2012 $5.12 million 35%
2013 $5.25 million[26] 40%
2014 $5.34 million[27] 40%
South Dakota's inheritance tax was repealed for deaths occurring after June 30, 2001 during the 2000 legislative session though it would not have mattered after 2005. I highly doubt the SD Legislature would have voted to change the Estate Tax statute because of this change in Federal law.
"The "pick up tax" or "sponge tax" is a state estate tax that is collected based on the state death tax credit that the IRS allowed on the federal estate tax return, IRS Form 706, prior to January 1, 2005. Each state had different tax laws with regard to the pick up tax, so the amount that a state would collect varied based on that state's own estate tax laws. In essence, however, the overall estate tax bill was not increased or decreased due to the pick up tax. Instead, the total tax bill was apportioned between the IRS and state taxing authority."
"from Wikipedia"
And from "About Money";
Effective January 1, 2005, the pick up tax was officially phased out under the provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act ("EGTRRA"). In response to these changes in federal law that phased out the pick up tax, some states that used to collect a pick up tax chose to enact laws that allow the state to still collect a state estate tax. This is referred to as "decoupling" since the states that enacted a state estate tax no longer based their state estate tax laws on current federal estate tax laws.
Curious how many estates in South Dakota are threatened by such a tax: certainly not yours, Charlie.
Charlie: which one or two of your donors persuaded you to fight this battle?
Larry I don't fight other peoples fights. Honestly if it makes sense I'm for it. If it doesn't I'm against it. And I reserve my right to change my mind any time circumstances or information change. That's why the best advice I can give to any new legislator is on any issue outside of your core beliefs never lock down a position publicly.
On the first question Larry. No I'm just a poor haystacker grass grower. Came in with nothing and leaving with nothing too! :)