Democrats hope to enact an ambitious domestic reform program financed by taxing corporations and the very rich. jonathanchait reports on how the latter have unleashed a massive lobbying operation targeting moderate Democrats in Congress
Last week, Democratic senator turned anti-tax lobbyist Heidi Heitkamp, who represented North Dakota for one term before losing in 2018, appeared on CNBC to make a surprisingly emotional appeal against President Biden’s plan to close a notorious loophole for the wealthy. The loophole, called “stepped-up basis” or “the angel-of-death loophole,” allows capital gains to escape any tax at all as long as the owners pass the asset on to their heirs before they sell it.
In fact, the original Democratic proposal allowed for a $1 million exemption per spouse, and it allowed heirs a 15-year period to spread out the payments. So poor Sam would only have to pay tax on whatever value his cabin had over $2 million, which seems like a rather lavish spread for a working-class fellow, and he would have enjoyed a comfortable period over which to make those payments.
The fact that this belief was completely false seemed to be beside the point to Heitkamp. She likewise seemed untroubled by the possibility that the reason working-class people would get this false impression in the first place was that groups like hers would spread it. Heitkamp’s group is currently running ads making the case that Biden’s plan to tax the fortunes of the wealthy would hit regular folks.
The Democrats hold a slender majority in Congress and hope to enact an ambitious domestic reform program financed by taxing corporations and the very rich. The latter have unleashed a massive lobbying operation, the target of which is a small band of moderate Democrats in Congress who hold the balance of power.
Former Montana senator Max Baucus has also stepped forward to write an op-ed advising Democrats that their political fortunes hinge on maintaining low, low tax rates for wealthy heirs. By the way, did you know Baucus has started his own lobbying group? I contacted his assistant, who told me the Baucus Group is not representing any clients on this issue. I asked his assistant if Baucus has any clients at all. I did not get a response to that query.
Heitkamp told me that her primary concern is for the Democratic Party’s political welfare. She pointed me to polling her group had commissioned, which she claimed is straightforward and not composed of the kind of slanted wording that interest groups typically employ to gin up favorable results.
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