By Chuck Kelly OpEdNews.COM
Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, once ran for president of the United States and was a strong advocate of totally eliminating the "death" tax.
Consider this: In February, 2002, Victor Posner died. He couldn't raid any more corporations. He no longer could buy lottery tickets. He couldn't be injured in a traffic accident. He was no longer hassled by a worsening arthritis condition. And guess what?
He could no longer be taxed by the federal or state governments. He was DEAD. As in permanently gone. A previous human.
However, the greedy, materialistic idiots described in one of Forbes own articles could""and should""have to pay an ESTATE tax on the millions they will eventually receive. Just like you will have to pay taxes on every cent of the money (minus deductions) that comes from your labor, they should have to pay taxes on the money they get just for being born""or married""to millions of dollars.
How obvious can this be? From Forbes, August 11.
All in the Family
Corporate raider Victor Posner spent much of his life in court. The legal belligerence continues unabated after his death.
Victor Posner's legacy of rapaciousness and legal battles""against corporate shareholders, the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service""lives on among those closest to him. Scarcely had the body of the slumlord-turned-takeover-tycoon chilled in February 2002 when his children, grandchildren and former gal pal began fighting one another to get their mitts on the estimated $200 million fortune he left behind. (One longtime business associate says it's worth $1 billion.) At the moment Victor's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Brenda Nestor Castellano, has the upper hand.
Castellano""54, married and mother of triplets and twins""was a young actress in New York when she met Victor in the 1970s and eventually wound up as an executive and director at some of his companies. She got another big break in 2000, when Victor settled years of legal wrangling with his son Steven, who had sued him for withholding payouts from Security Management Corp., which held much of Victor's real estate and was 26% owned by Steven through a trust. Steven got $11 million in cash""and the chance to flip a coin in front of a judge (Steven won) and then take turns with Victor choosing one asset after another until Steven owned $58 million of property. In return he waived all future rights to Security Management and the estate".
No one's free to cash in quite yet. Victor's children from his second marriage, Troy and Tracy (married to Burt Ward, a.k.a. Robin from the 1960s Batman TV series), have filed claims that Castellano unduly influenced Victor and that the estate should go to Victor's kids. Steven's three children""Kelly, Jarrett and Sean""have joined the battle, suing Grandpa's estate to oust Castellano and revoke the probate of the 2001 will".
For witnesses the grandchildren are prepared to trot out nurses saying that in his last months Victor confused reality with fantasy and could not string a sentence together".
The article, in one of our most conservative financial publications, speaks for itself. Nuff said.
Chuck Kelly is at http://www.KellySite.net. He holds a Ph.D. in industrial communications from Purdue University, is now a retired management consultant, and author of the books, THE DESTRUCTIVE ACHEIVER, THE GREAT LIMBAUGH CON, and CLASS WAR IN AMERICA. This article is originally published at opednews.com. Copyright Chuck Kelly, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached
