October 4. 2006
Page A4
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Estate Tax Funds ‘The American Dream’
The Portland
O bserver Repeal would create underclass
by
USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0
Established 1970
E ditor - in C u n r . P i n isiim :
Charles U.
Washington
E ditor :
estate tax hurts A fric a n A m ericans
rican A m erican m illio na ires. I count
in some d is p ro p o rtio n a te w ay.
M ark W ashington
C reative D irector :
Paul N e u fe ld t
O r r n i M anacer :
interest in repealing the estate tax.
A s a result o f th e ir e ffo rts , many
They are c o lle c tiv e ly w o rth $186
A m erican s th in k they w ill be sub
can A m e rica n friends. Patriarchs
b illio n . T h e y stand to gain $72 b il
je c t to the tax when they die (not
and m atriarchs are not tra in in g heirs
lio n i f the estate tax is repealed.
true ). O n ly one-quarter o f one per
in business succession.
T h e y've spent hundreds o f m illio n s
cent o f the deceased w ill pay this
m ysel f fortunate to be am ong them.
N ext thing you know , along come
H ere's the deceptive reasoning
Between 1983 and 2( X) I . the num ber
18 sup er-rich fa m ilie s w ith a vested
behind th e ir statem ent: It's harder
o f black households w ith net w o rth
fo r A m erican A m ericans to become
o f a m i 11 ion o r more dol lars increased
m illio n a ire s (tru e ), so the estate tax
fro m 6 1.0 0 0 to 109,000. M an y get
hits black entrepreneurs especially
th e ir w ealth fro m fa m ily businesses
hard, fo rc in g them to sell fa m ily
(fu n e ra l homes, m edical practices,
business to pay fo r the tax (untrue).
and real estate, c o n stru ctio n , and
M ich a el L eig h to n
P ublic R elations :
estate tax isn't one o f them.
It's great that there are m ore A f
4 7 4 7 NE M artin Luther King, Jr.
Blvd., Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1
D ikii s R oss
A c y n ic a l few arc saying the
liv e fo re v e r" a ltitu d e that prevails
am ong m any o f m y w e a lth ie r A f r i
The S m all Business A d m in is tra
service businesses).
tio n states that the m ain reasons
I f there arechallenges in passing
fa m ily businesses fa il are lack o f
on the fa m ily business, let's not k id
business v ia b ility , lack o f planning,
ourselves that it's som ehow due to
little desire by the ow ner to transfer
the estate tax. I f a n yth in g , it's due to
the firm , and reluctance o f o ffs p rin g
a lack o f legacy th in k in g and estate
to jo in the firm . N o te that p a yin g the
p lan nin g. There's an “ I'm gonna
o f d o lla rs to spread deception about
year. That means that o v e r 99 per
the estate tax.
cent o f us ean leave e v e ry th in g to
It s only right that we pay
something hack, so the
ladder of opportunity can
be extended to those
coming after us.
K athy L in d e r
o u r heirs tax-free.
* T h e e ffe c tiv e rate on b ig fo r
tunes is about 20 percent. People
th is rich have the ca p a city to do
basic fin a n cia l p lan nin g. W e kno w
how to buy the insurance neces
sary to pay the estate tax so o u r
heirs w o n 't be affected.
T he reason to care about keep
ing an estate tax in place is sim ple.
W e a lth y people o f all races have
benefited fro m go vern m ent invest-
m e n i- e d u c a f in . in fra s tru c tu re ,
loans, and p u b lic co n tra cts-to cre
ate o u r fortunes. It's o n ly rig h t that
The Portland Observer welcomes freelance
submissions. Manuscriptsandpholographs
we pay som ething back, so the la d
should he clea rly labeled and w ill he
de r o f o p p o rtu n ity can be extended
returned il accompanied by a self addressed
to those co m in g a fte r us.
envelope A ll created design disp la y ads
W hat c o u ld persuade the rich to
become the sole property o f the newspaper
g ive back, i f the govern m ent didn 't
and cannot be used in other p ublications or
personal usage w itho u t the w ritten consent
m andate it? H um an benevolence
o f the general manager, unless Iheclient has
alone is not g o in g to cut it.
purchased the com position o f such ad. ©
M a k e no m is ta k e - w e need the
1996 TUI- PORTLAND OBSERVER
A LL
RIGHTS
RESERVED.
REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN
PARI W ITHOUT PERMISSION
IS PROHIBITED.
$ 2 0 b illio n to $ 3 0 b illio n the es
tate tax generates each year. U n
e m p lo y m e n t ravages the A fr ic a n
A m e ric a n c o m m u n ity . M e d ic a re
The Portland O bserver--O regon’ s Oldest
w i ll soon be re q u ire d to s u p p o rt
M u lticu ltu ra l Publication is a member ot
the baby bo o m e rs. K id s are d ro p
the National Newspaper A ssocialion--
Founded in 1885, and The National A dver
p in g o u t, w ith to o lit t le e n c o u r
tising Representative Amalgamated Pub
agem ent
lishers, Inc. New York. NY', and The West
fu n d e d a fte r-s c h o o l p ro g ra m s .
Coast Black Publishers Association* Sen
fro m
g o v e rn m e n t-
W h ic h is m ore im p o rta n t, sp e n d
ing Portland and Vancouver.
in g on these needs o r a ta x break
f o r m u lti- m illio n a ir e h e irs?
P ostmaster : Send address changes
R epealing the estate la x w o u ld
to Portland Observer P0 Box 3 1 3 7
help squeeze the m id d le class in to
Portland. OR 97 20 8
Periodical Postage paid in
Portland. OR
Subscriptions are $60.00 per year
a perm anent underclass.
F or some o f us, there has been a
ric h g ra vy train in this co u n try . So
i f yo u 've en jo yed the rid e, n o w pay
the fare.
Darius Ross is a New York City
real estate developer, entrepreneur
and fourth-generation Southern
landowner. He is a member o f Re
sponsible Wealth, responsible
wealth.org.
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We Must Reform the System
t
Annual Wellness Village
&
Health Disparities Conference
Universal healthcare would save lives
ÄNHC
7 X \
African American
Health Coalition, Inc.
Poor health affects everyone
so join us for two g reat events
b ecau se a healthy com m unity starts w ith you!
Friday Oct. 20th, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
11
2nd Annual
Health Disparities Conference:
We Can Make a Difference
Ambridge Event Center (formerly Portland
Convention Center)
300 NE Multnomah Street
For com m unity m em bers, health care
Saturday Oct, 21st, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
11th Annual Wellness Village
at The Blazers Boys & Girls Club
5250 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Free health services
and activities
at the Wellness Village include:
proviiiers, and policy makers to generate
solutions to health disparities in ( )regon.
Health Screenings & Services
Keynote address by Dr. Joy Leary:
“Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome”
• Flu shots
• Dental
• Vision
• 10:30 a .m .-11:00 a.m . Registration
($150 for lunch and the xx'orkshop)
• 11:00 a.m.-ll:30 a.m. State of Black I lealth
Report hy ( hrgnn State DUS
• 11:30 a .m .-1:00 p.m . Lunch
• I tearing
•
•
•
•
Diabetes
Massage therapy
HIV & STD screenings
And more
Activities & Exhibits
& Keynote Address by Dr. Icary
• 1:00 p .m .-2:00 p.m . Workshop by
I red Miller, “African American Health:
The ( kxxl... the Bail... anil the Ugly”
•
•
•
•
•
African drumming by Chatta Addy
Looking demo & tastings
(iospel choir
Children’s activities
Raffle prizes
AS KArtfJf PffMANfWTF.
AstraZeneca Z
For more information contact the AAHC at 503-413-1850 or visit www.aahc-pordand.org
in J udge G reg M athis
The number of Americans
-em ployed anil unemployed
- without healthcare cover
age is growing. The cost of
health insurance is going up.
as are m edical expenses.
Too many Americans, chil
dren and the elderly among
them, simply cannot afford the medical help
they need. Some states, like M assachusetts,
realized this country was in the throes of a
healthcare crisis and tried to address the
problem themselves by proposing universal
healthcare. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court,
calling such a proposal ‘unconstitutional,’
stopped those plans before they could be
implemented. Unconstitutional? Or not in the
best interest of the healthcare lobby? T hat's
the real question. Universal
healthcare ean literally save
the lives of millions’o f unin
sured Americans. It's time the
federal government acknowl
edges that fact and reforms
the system.
The U.S. is the only indus
trialized nation that does not
guarantee healthcare to its citi
zens. In countries like Canada
all residents, regardless of in
come or employment status,
aregiven ‘insurancecards' and
are free to choose iheir own doctors and
hospitals, whether they are public or private.
Doctors in private practice bill the govern
ment run medicare system to recoup their
fees. It sounds expensive to run. doesn't it?
But consider this: Americans spends more - at
least 40 percent more - on health care than
any of the countries with a universal healthcare
program.
Studies have shown that a similar program
in the United Slates would save the country
hundreds of billions of dollars per year.
President Bush has said, time and time
again, that he thinks Americans should have
more ‘choice’ when it comes to healthcare.
That corporations should be able to compete
for the buyer's, in this case, those needing
insurance, money. Translation: He thinks
Americans should spend more, out of their
own pockets, when it comes to healthcare
coverage. H e's thinking only of the healthcare
industry - big business - and the hit it'll take
if coverage is provided universally and not of
the common man. In the president's vision,
healthcare would be a privilege for very few.
Ever since Senator Hillary Clinton, who
was First Lady at the time, failed to get the
needed support for her universal healthcare
plan in the 90s. progressives have been afraid
to push the issue on a national stage. As a
result, the conservatives have slowly but surely
begun to privatize the American healthcare
system, lim es though are changing. Polls
The U.S. is the only
industrialized nation
that does not guarantee
healthcare to its citizens.
I
I
show the American public wants a universal
healthcare system. With elections looming,
now is the time for Democrats to sit down and
d ev elo p a proposal that m akes qu ality
healthcare a right of citizenship. As voters
and eoneerned citizens, we must write our
legislators and demand they support the push
for universal healthcare. If they don’t, then
we must do our part and move them out of
office.
Judge Greg Matliis is national vice presi
dent o f Rainbow PU SH and a national
board m em ber o f the Southern Christian
Leadership C onference.