The Estate Tax is Dead. Long Live the Estate Tax.

Sharon Spillane at the indispensable Center on Budget and Policy Priorities writes:

Some Senate Republicans have indicated that a vote on repeal of the estate tax may take place next week, before the start of the August recess. . .

In a recent study, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that the revenue loss associated with extending estate tax repeal for ten years (2012 through 2021) would total about $745 billion; the cost rises to nearly $1 trillion over that decade when the increased interest costs on the debt are included. . .

Senator Kyl's compromise proposal is tantamount to total repeal . . . It would preserve only 7 percent of the revenue that would be lost under repeal.

If a vote on estate tax repeal or reform comes up in the Senate next week, it will be a test of Senators' commitment to fiscal discipline as well as a demonstration of their priorities.

The estate tax is probably our fairest tax, as it is paid by those most able to pay: dead multi-millionaires. Whole books have been filled debunking the lies peddled about the estate tax by its selfish opponents. CBPP has all the research you could want on the estate tax, and United for a Fair Economy is doing all it can to preserve it.