Blethen Admits His Position on Estate Tax Is Embarrassing

We finally listened to the great estate tax debate between Bill Gates' daddy and Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen (audio here).

The Slog lauded Gates' performance here, but we found something Blethen said much more interesting.

Gates was disputing Blethen's contention that many people would move out of state if the estate tax continued (you can hear this exchange around the 27-minute mark of the show). When pressed for actual names of such people, Blethen made this revealing comment to Gates:

Bill, it's more than you think but I'm not going to embarrass them right now, I'll give you a list privately.

Blethen's right--ditching the state where you made your fortune so you can dodge taxes is embarrassing. Is that what I-920 comes down to? Sparing embarrassment for a few hundred rich jerks?

Gates has the right attitude about this.

If somebody ... wants to go off to Arizona and pay income tax instead of estate tax, that's fine with me. This state has way more going for it that's left for people who stay.