The Estate Tax

John McCain used to fight the Republican Establishment's attempts to remove the Estate Tax, a tax that only affects those who are inheriting millions of dollars in wealth. He used to attack those who used "woe is me" ploys to try to reduce the tax rate on their windfall. In June 2002, McCain said

These facts belie the argument that we must repeal the estate tax to save family businesses and farms to assure that they do not have to be liquidated to pay estate taxes.

And as recently as June 2006, he opposed the repeal of the Estate Tax by quoting Roosevelt:

In his 1906 State of the Union Address, President Theodore Roosevelt proposed the creation of a federal inheritance tax . Roosevelt explained: 'The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.' Additionally, in a 1907 speech he said: 'Most great civilized countries have an income tax and an inheritance tax. In my judgment both should be part of our system of federal taxation.' He noted, however, that such taxation should 'be aimed merely at the inheritance or transmission in their entirety of those fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits.'

and added that he has:

consistently voted against repealing this tax because of the impact it would have on the deficit, as well as the possible chilling affect it could have on charitable giving in this country.

Now, McCain sharply criticizes the estate tax, and calls it

one of the most unfair tax laws on the book

While not calling for a full repeal, he now wants to increase the threshold for being taxed from $3.5 million to $5 million and wants to reduce the rate from 45% to 15%. So while a single man earning $45 grand this year might pay an effective tax rate over 20%, the fortunate son with a $10 million inheritance will only pay an effective rate of 7.5%. McCain's new outlook on the estate tax won't save anyone inheriting less that $3.5 million a dime, but it could bring savings of 300 million dollars to a billionaire heir! And now you know why some individuals are willing to pay as much as $3 million out of their own pocket to run attack ads on Obama. McCain's making it financially appealing to help him as much as possible.