Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will take up the issue of repealing the federal estate tax. From a fiscal point of view, abolishing the estate tax is shortsighted and reckless. Repealing the tax will cost $1 trillion in the coming decade. Only multimillionaires and billionaires pay it, so a repeal would constitute a giveaway to the rich.
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The principal backers of the repeal effort are some of our nation's wealthiest families. A new report reveals that 18 wealthy families spent several hundred million dollars on a campaign to abolish the tax. Today, someone needs to have at least $2 million inwealth as an individual or $4 million as acouple before they pay a penny of estate taxes. This is fewer than one in 370 estates in 2006.
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It is appalling that there are people with estates valued at more than $50 million or $100 million or $1 billion who are resentful at being able to pass on only 65% or 75% of their wealth to their heirs. There is no great societal goal served by massive amounts of inherited wealth.
The wealthy opponents to the estate tax show their hands when they refuse to discuss any of the reasonable compromise measures. They don't want to talk about improvements in the law. They just want to repeal it.
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The estate tax is a fair way for those of us who have prospered in this society to pay back the country that's made it possible for us to thrive.
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