posted on: Monday, September 19, 2005

In "Looking for a Corpse to Make a Case," The web edition of Time Magazine reported on September 17, 2005 that Republican Senators Jon Kyl (AZ) and Jeff Sessions (AL) have been scouring the lists of the hundreds of people Hurricane Katrina killed. Perhaps, those of us politically to the left of Attila the Hun might think, they were trying to reach out to the families most impacted by the storm? Hardly.

These two paragons of compassionate conservatism were trying to find a dead business owner whose estate would be liable for federal estate taxes. Kyl and Sessions are big proponents of repealing this tax, which would annually drain the federal government of billions of dollars of desperately needed tax revenue, as well as reduce charitable bequests and other giving by several billions of dollars each year.

Nationally, only about 1 percent of the estates of people who die each year are subject to the tax. The Center for American Progress reports that in the 3 Gulf Coast states hit by Katrina, only 709 estates had to pay the tax in 2003.