Ignore the claims of rich, black estate-tax foes. The tax is good for African-Americans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The federal estate tax, which has been in place since 1916, affects only the richest 1.4 percent of the deceased, and there are only a relative handful of African-Americans in that group.
Exemptions are even higher for businesses and small farms.
But repeal would be a windfall for the wealthiest whites in America. It would only exacerbate the black-white asset gap. If you want to know your net worth, add up everything you own and then subtract your total amount of outstanding debt. When we do this for white and minority households across America, incredible differences emerge. Overall, the typical white family enjoys a net worth more than seven times higher than its non-white counterpart.