.....Barney Frank

Elected Official?

The above link examines a statement made by Barney Frank about the taxation on inheritances.  He would prefer a higher taxation on the distributions of estates because he feels the beneficiaries of the estate don't deserve the inheritance because they themselves did not earn the money.  Now I am fully aware that congress is responsible for the fiscal policy set forth in the US, but when did Congressmen get the ability to judge whether or not we deserve something?  The fact of the matter is that the deceased worked very hard to accumulate an estate to pass onto his/her heirs.  How he/she would like to distribute their estate after their death is a private matter and not anyone's business, especially the government.
A very obtuse statement for a politician making more then they should.  I don't think that Senators and Congressmen should make nearly as much as they do with their jobs.  Being an elected official is considered a public service, and it should be treated as such.  Now if I were to call Mr. Frank or any other elected official and tell them to forgo their six figure salaries, I don't think they would be to happy about it.
The governments job is to establish a fair tax policy that is designed to benefit the country and its people, not because someone deserves or doesn't deserve an inheritance.  Barney Frank is no stranger to these type of outlandish comments, lets not forget that he was a huge supporter of affordable housing for all Americans.  A lovely idea, but the mass amount of sub prime mortgages that were filtered through the system because of these types of policies are suicidal for an economy.  Hence the current recession caused by the housing bubble, increase in defaults on home loans, and leading to the default of billions of dollars of mortgage back securities held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Thanks Barney but your irresponsible ideas on ideological politics have put us in a big enough mess, let us keep our inheritance.