"I don't want to get into the 'who's a hostage-taker' discussion here, but what is the estate tax? It's a double tax on death. Economists will tell you that it's really not a tax that soaks the rich, but it's a tax on capital that deprives business investment and therefore job creation"
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Ryan’s real move here is to rebrand a policy fight as a moral emergency, then politely decline to name the villains. “I don’t want to get into the ‘who’s a hostage-taker’ discussion” is classic Washington aikido: he signals there’s extortion in the room (government shutdown politics, debt-ceiling brinkmanship) while positioning himself above the mess. It’s a pre-emptive inoculation. If you’re tired of partisan warfare, he’s your guy; if you’re looking for someone to blame, he’s also quietly telling you where to look.
Then comes the core frame: the estate tax becomes “a double tax on death,” a phrase engineered to feel like an insult to grief. It’s not wonky; it’s visceral. The word “death” does the heavy lifting, turning a tax on inherited wealth into a punishment for dying, as if the government is rifling through a casket. That’s the subtextual sleight of hand: the tax is no longer about distribution or public revenue, but about dignity and family.
“Economists will tell you” is an appeal to neutral authority, but selectively deployed. He borrows the lab coat to argue the tax doesn’t really target “the rich,” recasting it instead as an attack on “capital,” “investment,” and “job creation.” Translation: sympathy is redirected from heirs to workers. In the post-recession, austerity-leaning climate where Ryan built his brand as the numbers guy, this is meant to launder a pro-wealth position through a pro-jobs vocabulary, making a narrow tax preference sound like broad economic common sense.
Then comes the core frame: the estate tax becomes “a double tax on death,” a phrase engineered to feel like an insult to grief. It’s not wonky; it’s visceral. The word “death” does the heavy lifting, turning a tax on inherited wealth into a punishment for dying, as if the government is rifling through a casket. That’s the subtextual sleight of hand: the tax is no longer about distribution or public revenue, but about dignity and family.
“Economists will tell you” is an appeal to neutral authority, but selectively deployed. He borrows the lab coat to argue the tax doesn’t really target “the rich,” recasting it instead as an attack on “capital,” “investment,” and “job creation.” Translation: sympathy is redirected from heirs to workers. In the post-recession, austerity-leaning climate where Ryan built his brand as the numbers guy, this is meant to launder a pro-wealth position through a pro-jobs vocabulary, making a narrow tax preference sound like broad economic common sense.
Quote Details
| Topic | Investment |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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