"Both capitalists and workers might agree on one thing: it's time to restore the estate tax.

This was the message sent last week by United for a Fair Economy's Responsible Wealth Project. The Bush 2003 tax cuts temporarily suspended the estate tax for 2010, a move that benefits only the wealthiest fraction of American families and adds tens of billions of dollars to the federal deficit. 

In a media teleconference on behalf of United for a Fair Economy, labor leader Richard Trumka made the issue clear. 

"The estate tax is a progressive tax, and it is the only wealth tax we have," he said. 

Trumka, who is the president of the AFL-CIO, noted that if the estate tax bills currently pending in Congress were to pass only a fraction of one percent of estates would be required to pay any taxes. 

Small farmers and businesses owners simply aren't valuable to be taxed under the provisions of the estate tax. 

The revenue from the estate tax should be used to fund public investment in infrastructure, saving teachers' jobs and providing aid to states with budget shortfalls, Trumka explained. 

He noted that the federal deficit remains a long-term issue and should be handled as a structural issue in the future. 

"Our economy remains on the edge of a double-dip recession, and we urgently need to create millions of jobs and invest in our future, not give more tax breaks to the wealthy," Trumka said. 

"Anyone who pretends to care about cutting deficits while opposing the restoration of the estate tax is clearly residing on a different planet." [...]"

Read the full article by Joel Wendland on PoliticalAffairs.net