Michelle Malkin: Who Will Pay the Estate Tax?

April 19, 2005 11:02 AM
http://michellemalkin.com

House Republicans voted last week to permanently repeal the estate tax.

This prompted the usual complaints from newspaper editorial writers about tax cuts for the super-rich. As the New York Times editorial board put it, "Repeal would shield the estates of the very wealthiest Americans from the tax.... [M]ost Americans never even have to think about the estate tax, let alone worry about it coming on top of some other tax."

You can see similar arguments here.

Under current law, the exemption for estate tax will be $1 million per individual in the year 2011 and thereafter. Supporters of the status quo may think that's an extraordinary amount of money, but in a growing number of cities, million-dollar homes aren't exceptional.

Like the Alternative Minimum Tax, the estate tax will affect a growing number of Americans as prices creep up. If home prices increase 7% a year, a home worth $500,000 today will be worth nearly $1 million in 2015 and more than $2 million in 2026.

As this Bethesda, Md., letter-writer notes in this morning's Post, "It is not inconceivable that even government employees who habitually max out contributions to their thrift savings plans and make other wise financial choices could hit the trigger numbers by 2011, especially with the aid of inflation."

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Related:
From Ankle Biting Pundits:
Don't Be Misled By MSM's Distortions On Federal Estate Tax
Making a biblical argument against federal death taxes