You can tell a great deal about a candidate from campaign literature. On his web site, Tom MacArthur, candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s third congressional district, says he will work for comprehensive tax reform, including “advocate[ing] for ending the death tax.” Now, eliminating the death tax sure sounds like it would remove a burden from us. However, when you examine MacArthur’s position closely, you can understand who Tom MacArthur really is and who he represents.
The “death tax” he is referring to is the federal estate tax. The Tax Policy Center estimates that only about 0.14 percent of households pay any estate tax. In 2014 the federal estate tax only applies to an estate worth over $5.34 million. To put this in context, you have to know that back in 2008 the personal exemption amount was substantially lower at just $2 million. So in the face of what are arguably the lowest ‘death tax’ rates in the history of our country, MacArthur wants to not only lower them, but eliminate them entirely. Besides being self-serving, coming from a man whose net worth is reportedly in excess of $40 million, like MacArthur, it’s irresponsible. With the national debt standing at around $17 trillion and the middle class being told we need to sacrifice, eliminating taxes on the most wealthy is un-American and won’t serve to close that gap.
The estate tax traces its roots back to the late 18th century. It was created to prevent the large aggregation of wealth from generation to generation. Our founding fathers left Europe and created this country to escape places where the reigns of power were controlled by a ruling aristocracy. In our history, the tax has helped prevent the creation of an economic aristocracy.
The kind of rhetoric MacArthur espouses may mean something to MacArthur’s wealthy neighbors in Morris County, which ranks as the sixth wealthiest county in the country, but it shouldn’t mean much to us in Burlington or Ocean County. That’s why I’m asking friends and neighbors to vote for Aimee Belgard. She grew up amongst us, serves as a public servant, a mom, and an attorney, and she will represent the people of South Jersey.
Al Finkelstein
