Bush's Heir Cut: Awards Tax Break to Son of an Astor
for The Guardian, Comment Is Free
Monday, July 31, 2006
East Hampton, New York — Anthony Marshall, the tabloids tell us, wouldn’t buy his elderly mother her prescribed medicine, locked her dachshunds in the pantry and refused to buy her hair dye or her favorite make-up. His mom is Brooke Astor, the ultra-rich socialite, now frail, helpless and dependent on her son.
While others merely gossiped about this tragedy of dogs and cosmetics, George Bush acted. In a deft maneuver at the end of last week, Bush rammed through Congress a massive reduction in the inheritance tax. As a result of the tax change engineered by the White House, Marshall stands to save $9 million on the $45 million he expects to inherit from his mom.
