The Hill Street Blahg

Kevin Cuneo wrote an interesting piece regarding the Rooney family and their Pittsburgh Steeler franchise. What Kevin failed to touch on in his nostalgic article, was the underlying reason why 75 year old Dan Rooney and his brothers need to come together on an agreement of sale and the sooner the better. Apparently the sands of time are quickly running out for the Rooney family.

Coincidentally, today’s Wall Street Journal also has an excellent piece on the Steeler franchise which explains in detail the reasons the Rooney family are between a rock and a hard spot regarding the sale of their far too successful franchise. It’s called the “Death Tax” and the punishment Americans are dealt for having the audacity to die in a country controlled by the left.

Here is an excerpt from this most informative WSJ piece. What you will learn from reading the article in it’s entirety shouldn’t be shocking to anyone.

Adding urgency to the Pittsburgh transaction is the prospect of a Democratic President in 2009 who opposes repeal of the death tax and wants to raise the tax rate for capital gains. Barack Obama has promised to raise the rate from 15% to at least 25%, and perhaps the Clinton-era peak of 28%. The artificial timeline adds appeal to a buyer like Mr. Druckenmiller who has the dough to complete a transaction before the end of this year.

As for the death tax, it is now on track to expire for one year, in 2010, and then revert to its pre-2003 terms with a rate of 55% and an exclusion of only $1 million. The current exclusion is $2 million, far below a level that would help the Rooneys or tens of thousands of small business owners who have built something of value over a lifetime and might like to pass it along to their heirs. Mr. Obama proposes a meager $3.5 million exclusion with a top rate of 45%.

The role of taxes in separating families from their businesses doesn’t seem to bother many in Washington—where politicians are usually happy to sound off on lesser injustices. The bid for family-run Anheuser-Busch from European brewer InBev brought a storm of political indignation, though the Busch family owns a less-than 4% stake and the AB board has since agreed to a takeover.