UNITED FOR A FAIR ECONOMY ACTION ALERT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ** Please excuse cross postings** PLEASE FORWARD** February 15, 2001 Oppose the Bush Tax Giveaways to the Rich Dear Member of United for a Fair Economy: *UFE was on the front page of the NY Times for organizing a statement of wealthy individuals against the repeal of the estate tax. Check out the story on our website: http://www.ufenet.org and keep your eyes open for UFE in the news in the days to come. The response from the NY Times has been amazing. 1. Please take five minutes to let your U.S. Senators know you OPPOSE enormous tax giveaways to the rich in the Bush tax plan, specifically a full repeal of the estate tax. (The Senate switchboard number is 202-224-3121. They can connect you to your Senator's office) *** If you live in California, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, or Washington please note: your Senators are swing legislators in this fight. PLEASE TAKE ACTION! *** 2. Please contact us and let us know you made the phone call. 3. If you can do more, see the list of five additional ACTIONS below that you can take to fight the Bush tax and preserve the estate tax, our country's most progressive tax. ___________________________________________ Background information: Included in President Bush's tax cut plan are : * Repeal of the Federal Estate and Gift Taxes * Reduction of the top tax rate from 39% to 33% Combined, these two tax cuts will give the richest 1% of households $666 billion in tax cuts over the next decade. That's 42.6% of the value of the entire $1.6 trillion tax cut. The estate tax is our most progressive tax and the only federal tax on accumulated wealth. We have two major challenges in attempting to preserve the estate tax. **One, there is a incredible campaign of misinformation distorting who will pay an estate tax and its impact on our society. **Two, there is virtually no debate on the negative consequences of repeal. Only the richest 2% of households pay the estate tax. Half of the tax is paid by 4,000 super-wealthy households with wealth of $5 million or more. The repeal of the estate tax will worsen America's already enormous wealth gap and increase the dangerous concentration of wealth and power. **Effect on Charities** Repeal will have a devastating effect on charities and the non profit organizations that rely on them. The U.S. Treasury Department estimates that gifts to charity will fall $5-6 billion a year after repeal. **Fix the Estate Tax, Don't Repeal It.** An alternative to complete repeal would raise the exemption threshold and further protect small farms and family businesses. Urge your Senators to support the Democratic alternative bill that is being developed by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT.) and others to fix the estate tax, not nix it. DO you want to know how your elected official voted last summer on estate tax repeal? For more information, including fact sheets, commonly-asked questions and links to other web sites, visit www.ufenet.org. Please call us at 1-877-564-6833 x45 if you have questions or can help in other ways. THANKS! Tomas Aguilar, Chuck Collins & Dara Silverman United for a Fair Economy *** Five More Action Steps Fired up? Do you want to do more? Here are FIVE things you can do to help preserve the estate tax. Check our web site for even more ideas. 1. Get five other people together to make calls to your U.S. Representatives and Senators and discuss taking other actions together. 2. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper. See our web site (http://www.ufenet.org) for sample letters. 3. Are you connected to a local nonprofit organization (social services, land trusts, arts, hospitals, civic associations)? Give them information about the impact that estate tax repeal will have on charities. Get them to speak out. On our web site, there are links to fact sheets about the impact of repeal on nonprofit organizations. 4. Organize a delegation to meet with your Senators. Many elected officials are back in their districts around President's Day weekend (February 16-20). See our web site for ten tips for organizing a successful meeting with a member of your delegation. 5. Participate in a creative theatrical action. Organize a "Support Rally" sponsored by "Billionaires for Unlimited Inheritance" at the office of your Congressional leader, especially if they said they would vote to repeal the estate tax. See the web site: http://www.billionairesforunlimitedinheritance.com. (Coming this Friday, 2/16) Some information in this alert was provided by Citizens for Tax Justice (http://www.ctj.org), the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org), and OMB Watch (http://www.ombwatch,org) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dara Silverman, National Organizer United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Pl. 2nd floor, Boston MA 02111 617-423-2148 x26 (office) 617-480-2454 (road) http://www.ufenet.org http://www.billionairesforunlimitedinheritance.org United for a Fair Economy is a national membership organization dedicated to building a movement against economic inequality. Join us! Membership in UFE is $25 or whatever you can afford.
