Chuck Grassley says his estate tax comments were misinterpreted

[DonViejo]

Source: Omaha World-Herald




Dec 4, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Republican senator said Monday his comments were misinterpreted when he defended GOP efforts to scale back the federal estate taxes because it helps those who invest rather than people who spend their money on “booze or women or movies.”

“My point regarding the estate tax, which has been taken out of context, is that the government shouldn’t seize the fruits of someone’s lifetime of labor after they die,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a statement. “The question is one of basic fairness, and working to create a tax code that doesn’t penalize frugality, saving and investment.”

The seven-term senator, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, made the comments about the estate tax late last week in an interview with the Des Moines Register. It has attracted attention since.

Grassley told the newspaper, “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”





Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/iowa/chuck-grassley-says-his-estate-tax-comments-were-misinterpreted/article_42d431d0-d90b-11e7-96e9-efafdbce8100.html

[renate]

1. "taken out of context".... in what context would it be okay to say what he said?

What a pathetic turd.

[Hortensis]

21. "Inappropriately" revealed what they're thinking about us.

I've heard it so many times. Our conservative neighbors want to think they're talking about poor people who get government aid, but the demonizing is on all of us to excuse what they want to do to all of us.

I once listened from a nearby table (kids were out golfing in a heat I couldn't take) at a country club in the Bentonville/Walmart headquarters area of Arkansas to some apparently visiting, guessing very high-level execs--higher than Walmart requires vendors to actually live there to do business. They were talking about the subdivisions that had grown up in that area and others and how Americans are buying far larger houses than we need, which we then fill with years of extravagantly wasteful consumerism, instead of saving and building our personal "worth."

Won't exactly argue with any of these premises, but I had a huge problem with the underlying theme they were nodding over -- that employees across the nation were overpaid and couldn't handle the corruption of money well, were wasting by far most of it, and that previous generations worked harder and lived better, more moral lives on much less. As a real estate appraiser listening keenly, I translated one guy's description they were nodding at into the around 1000-1400 square 3-brm homes that were once common as a more appropriate size for our happier, more moral families. Has been and is for many, but their decision for us?

Every time scoundrels like Hatch come to mind, that smug and hypocritical conversation comes to mind. My experienced version of Romney's "47%" presentation.

[47of74]

2. Ah yes. The favorite dodge of the Republican....

...who got his or her ass called to the carpet for spewing bullshit.

[chowder66]

3. Fuck him. If that's out of context then he should retire. nt

[Abouttime]

19. He must resign

NOTHING should get done in the Senate until this evil man is gone.

[marble falls]

4. What's to misunderstand, we read them just as he said them.

[Horizens]

5. but, but

I didn't say what I said and what I was accurately quoted as saying.

[JHan]

6. we know what you meant Chuck.

[irisblue]

22. Yep, we understood you just fine Grassley.

really, time to go away.

[JHan]

25. they're always gaslighting us

[Fullduplexxx]

7. Fkoff grissled mummy

[disalitervisum]

8. Anyone else besides me tired of octogenarians running (ruining) the country?

This isn't 1925.

[smirkymonkey]

11. YES! I'm particularly sick of old, white men ruining the country.

And they are almost always old, white men.

[dalton99a]

12. Sadistic evil old men

[irisblue]

23. [phone]

[truthisfreedom]

9. Estate tax affects only the ultra wealthy. Why do they lie?

It affects a tiny percentage of our population.

[dalton99a]

10. Bingo.

[Wellstone ruled]

13. Old Cuchie truy believes the

statement he made earlier about poor people. Honestly,knowing the Rural areas of Minnesota and Iowa and South Dakota,this is a theme used by thousands of older White people who tend to be feeling or playing the Victim Card. Ignorance is Bliss to these.

[old guy]

14. I said yesterday it would be interesting to see how they walk this back.

This is really a lame attempt, even worse than I expected.

[Beartracks]

15. Republicans see taxes on the wealthy not as a patriotic duty, but rather...

... as what Rush Limbaugh called "punishing success." Because, as everyone knows, your value as an American is based on the size of your bank account.

============

[Freethinker65]

16. Keep digging, Chuck

A majority of frugal American savers will never ever have anything close to 5 or 10 million dollars in their estates after working from their teen years to retirement age. While the estate tax cut/elimation will affect some current self-made entrepreneurs, its main goal is to keep family dynasties, which have accumulated their wealth on the backs of “Ordinary Americans”, in tact with future generations free to inherit and never give anything back in perpetuity.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

17. Bullshit, up-Chuck!!!

[lunatica]

18. I love it when assholes go on the defensive when criticized for their mindless blathering

They're pathetic, claiming they're so misunderstood!

[Skittles]

20. "that is not who I am" is always my favorite

it's ALWAYS who they are

[Corgigal]

24. Nope, we got ya.

However, if it wasn't for us regular humans buying things for life along the way, our whole way of being would collapse, asshole.

I bought a pine candle today, cause holidays and I like it. Your ass should thank me for buying this silly little item, not belittle us. People who don't even understand how our economy works, should never be elected to a damn thing.

[xxqqqzme]

26. Wow, his office must be dealing with

many, many persons extremely angry with this self appointed overseer of the 99.8%!

[Ferrets are Cool]

27. How long did it take his team to come up with that one? Had to be difficult.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. Well, what I've learned in recent months as I'm an executor of an estate,

is that a dead person can't own anything. And that NOTHING should be passed on to anyone until the estate has been settled.

I didn't know that until after I signed the deceased man's car over to someone, and gave away a bunch of personal possessions. However, since all bills have been settled, it doesn't matter that I broke the law.

I'm not in favor of total confiscation of a dead person't property and wealth, something I've seen suggested on occasion. But given that a person can pass on some $5.49million tax free under the current law, I think that's plenty generous enough.