Another $8 Billion Food Stamp Cuts. Estate Tax Loophole Saves Wealthy $100 Billion

Alan: When America's wealthiest man makes this frank claim, 

and American conservatives bend over to clasp their ankles, 

any person with a functioning synapse must marvel.

***

Congress is likely to cut another $8 billion from food stamps. "Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) told reporters Tuesdaythat the top four negotiators are "very close" to coalescing around a framework for the first new farm bill since 2008 and have "pretty much" agreed on spending levels for the nutrition programs, the most politically contentious component of the legislation." Kristina Peterson in The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, a loophole in the estate tax saves the wealthy $100 billion. "Federal law requires billionaires such as Adelson who want to leave fortunes to their children to pay estate or gift taxes of 40 percent on those assets. Adelson has blunted that bite by exploiting a loophole that Congress unintentionally created and that the Internal Revenue Service unsuccessfully challenged. By shuffling his company stock in and out of more than 30 trusts, he's given at least $7.9 billion to his heirs while legally avoiding about $2.8 billion in U.S. gift taxes since 2010, according to calculations based on data in Adelson's U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings...Hundreds of executives have used the technique, SEC filings show. These tax shelters may have cost the federal government more than $100 billion since 2000, says Richard Covey, the lawyer who pioneered the maneuver." Zachary R. Mider in Bloomberg.