George W. Bush got in on the action as well. The taco shop, it turns out, would have gone untaxed. And it's not just taco shops that go tax-free. Almost all small business estates are exempt from taxation. The value of a sole proprietorship, the chief form of small business, is rarely greater than its annual sales.
Family farmers are almost as unlikely to feel the estate-tax pinch.
Just one in 20 leaves a taxable estate. As the President, born and raised in Arkansas, pointed out in his veto message, the chief beneficiaries of the repeal of the estate tax have most likely never sat atop a tractor of any color. The other argument that opponents of the estate tax have mustered for its repeal is that the rich have already paid income taxes, so they should be able to leave their wealth to their heirs without paying further taxes. For instance, workers pay payroll taxes and income taxes on their wages, and then sales taxes when they spend what remains of their paychecks. The important issue is not how or when we pay taxes, but how much we pay.