Tap into AllPolitics' archive of TIME articles from the days before the internet. Robert Hartman had not looked at his will in 17 years. But when his first grandchild was born, he decided to update it, and he made a nasty discovery. If Hartman was surprised, imagine the reaction of less tax-savvy people who suddenly realize that their heirs face a worry usually thought to be reserved for Rockefellers. Thanks to decades-long booms in stock and real estate values, more people are making the dismal discovery every year, and their shock is compounded when they learn how stiff the tax is.
Enough people are mad enough, in fact, to fuel what is becoming an irresistible tax-cutting drive.
Some reduction in the estate tax is nearly certain to be part of any 1997 budget-balancing deal, and it is possible that relief will be granted even if no budget compromise is reached. On the Democratic side, President Clinton has proposed some modest reductions, and is obviously preparing to go along with deeper ones. That was a humiliation the proud Summers would probably endure only under presidential orders. So much fuss might seem surprising, given the numbers involved. True, it is expected that more than twice as many estates will be taxed in 2007 as were in 1995.