Grover Norquist, president of Americans For Tax Reform, called wealthy D.C. residents opposing a city council proposal to the estate tax exemption limit “phony philanthropists.”
Members of the groups Patriotic Millionaires and Resource Generation released a statement Wednesday saying that such a change in the estate tax exemption in D.C. would restrict monetary resources for services for the city’s lower income residents.
As part of D.C.’s 2018 spending proposal, the district is deciding if the business tax should be lowered and if the amount of money that residents can be exempt from the estate tax can be raised.
The $100 million of proposed tax cuts would go into effect next January. Business franchises would see their taxes cut from 9 to 8.25 percent, and the estate tax exemption limit would rise from $2 million to the federal limit of $5.49 million.
“Raising the city’s estate tax exemption limit would give a tax cut to the richest residents of DC and limit funding for services vital to the city’s less well-off population,” members of the Patriotic Millionaires said.
They went on to say, “Members of both organizations, those who will both pay the estate tax and those who would face a reduced inheritance because of the estate tax, feel that raising the threshold will only serve to expand the yawning gap between the wealthy of this city and the rest of its population, and have strongly urged the DC Council to delay raising the exemption limit.”
Norquist responded, telling The Daily Caller in an email statement, “Any millionaire who would like to write a check to the DC government is free to do so. Or they can posture and preen and, knowing this law is not going to change, pretend to be willing to pay to DC government without doing so. Hypocrites. Phony philanthropists.”