Vultures, Death, Taxes & More Falsehoods

The Free Enterprise Fund continues a campaign of misinformation against the estate tax.

Summary

The conservative Free Enterprise Fund (FEF) continues to push for permanent repeal of the federal estate tax with one of the most blatantly false advertising campaigns we've seen this year.

One recent TV ad repeats an utterly untrue claim that the estate tax can "rip away 55 per cent of what you save for loved ones." In fact, the tax takes zero per cent from all but a very few. Even multimillionaires pay an average effective tax rate estimated currently at less than 22 per cent of their estates.

The ads are particularly nasty in their tone as well. One portrays Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington as a carrion bird, saying "she voted with the vultures" to oppose consideration of estate-tax repeal. Another attacks Democratic Sen. David Pryor of Arkansas for supposedly going back on a promise to support repeal, saying "Pryor is a liar." Actually, Pryor is on record opposing total repeal, though a statement on his website can easily be read to imply the opposite.

Analysis

For months the Free Enterprise Fund has been running what it says is a $4.1 million campaign to kill the federal estate tax for good. So far this year the FEF says it has run ads nationally on Fox News and in seven states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. We've noted some of their distortions before . They're still putting out false information.

COMPLETE ANALYSIS