Wealth and Our Commonwealth

When Wealth and Our Commonwealth was first published in hardcover, coverage was intense and widespread: virtually all of the national broadcast and print media ran interviews and reviews. The adamant argument for reform, not reversal, of the most progressive tax in our nation continues to resonate. This edition, with a new preface by the authors, is sure to continue to fuel the debate. "Gates, a happy warrior and a bear of a man, has thrown his formidable resources into making sure that he and people like him pay a decent share of the cost of government. He and Collins are doing urgent work. . . . Inheritance taxes would fall only on the largest estates. That, said Gates, is entirely just. As he puts it, those who were best able ‘to take advantage of what society has to offer' have a debt to pay. It's a concept no less worthy for being old-fashioned." --E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post "If you doubt whether there are any truly public-spirited Americans left, let me introduce Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins. Their new book is worth reading for its fascinating history of the conservative estate-tax repeal movement alone. But more than that, Wealth and Our Commonwealth challenges us all, rich and not-so-rich, to a more strenuous and farsighted notion of citizenship."--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America "Bill Gates and Chuck Collins provide a clear rationale for retaining the estate tax in this helpful and unselfish analysis."--Jimmy Carter, Winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize "As this book reminds us, inheritance taxes are not about raising tax revenue. They are about ‘What Kind of a Nation Do We Want to Be?' Economics is inevitably a relay race where participants do not start from the same point, but we can limit how large those gaps are. This book gets our thoughts back on the right issues."--Lester Thurow, author of The Future of Capitalism and Building Wealth: New Rules for Individuals

William H Gates Sr. is the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. He serves as trustee for a number of Northwest and national organizations, including the national board of United Way. Chuck Collins is the cofounder and program director of the Boston-based United for a Fair Economy and Responsible Wealth

Prologue to the Paperback Edition	p. ix
Foreword	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
What Kind of Nation Do We Want to Be?	p. 7
Revenue Loss and the Tax Burden Shift	p. 8
The Impact on State Treasuries	p. 11
The Estate Tax and Inequality	p. 13
The Dangers of Inequality Today	p. 13
Concentrated Wealth and Democracy	p. 17
Concentrated Wealth and Equality of Opportunity	p. 19
Growing Inequality Is Bad Economic Policy	p. 20
Inequality and Our Civic and Public Health	p. 22
Does the Estate Tax Have an Impact?	p. 24
The Origins of America's Estate Tax	p. 26
American Values: The Roots of the Estate Tax	p. 27
The Gilded Age and the Movement for an Estate Tax	p. 32
Early Estate Taxation	p. 36
Supporters of the Estate Tax	p. 37
The Establishment of the Estate Tax	p. 41
Opposition to the Estate Tax	p. 52
The Effort to Repeal the Estate Tax	p. 54
Inside the D.C. Beltway	p. 55
"Death Tax": What's in a Name?	p. 57
Orange County, California	p. 59
Seattle, Washington	p. 61
Hiding the Real Face of Estate Taxpayers	p. 64
The Estate Tax Down on the Farm	p. 66
The Estate Tax and Family-Owned Enterprises	p. 74
The Case for Repeal: Unsound and Misleading Arguments	p. 78
Is the Estate Tax Unfair Because Death Should Not Be a Taxable Event?	p. 79
Is the Estate Tax Unfair Because It Punishes Successful People?	p. 81
Why Penalize People Who Leave Their Hard-Earned Savings and Wealth to Their Children?	p. 81
Is the Estate Tax a Form of Double Taxation?	p. 83
Does the Estate Tax Penalize the Little Guys?	p. 85
Does the Estate Tax Raise Enough Revenue to Cover the Cost of Collecting It?	p. 87
Is the Top Rate of the Estate Tax Too High?	p. 90
How Much Does the Estate Tax Really Raise?	p. 91
The Showdown	p. 93
Budget Framework	p. 94
Fiscal Responsibility and the Rising Costs of Estate Tax Repeal	p. 98
Organizing to Oppose Complete Repeal	p. 100
The Estate Tax: A Summary of Changes	p. 104
What We Owe Our Society	p. 110
A Religious Perspective on Wealth and Society	p. 119
What Is It Worth to Be an American?	p. 121
The Estate Tax and Charitable Giving	p. 123
Will Charities Lose without the Estate Tax?	p. 126
A New Spirit of Giving?	p. 130
What about the Children? The Dangers of the Silver Spoon	p. 132
Epilogue: The Estate Tax and the Common Good	p. 136
Notes	p. 141
Selected Bibliography	p. 164
Acknowledgments	p. 166
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Wealth and Our Commonwealth

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials