The odious gift tax, estate tax and other taxes on capital and capital “gains” (mostly inflation-pricing of assets) of the US central government are the same thing. I, for one, loath the people that support these taxes. No, not just the politicians; those crooked voters laying claim to my labor and its fruits electing those politicians.
Right. So that €100,000 it took you years to save is, come Monday, worth €90,000. And how about the following Tuesday, when it will turn out Cypriot banks need more dough? What then? Jörg Asmussen, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, explained it thus: “In order to have burden-sharing, you extend the tax base. To residents and also to non-residents.” Spoken like a true socialist or Social Democrat, which is the same thing. Politicians and bankers mess up, you pay. Private property? Ha, ha, ha. [Update: my friend Janet Daley writes: “Its worth noting that this EU confiscation of private savings is using the same excuse catching money-launderers and foreign currency smugglers that the US uses to justify FATCA [Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act]. The civil liberties and property rights of law-abiding people can be trampled over in the name of pursuing ‘criminals.’”]