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. Beyond that, much inherited wealth has never even been taxed once, much less twice.
Untaxed gains are no small portion of estates.
The estate tax is the only way, under current law, to tax capital gains that escape the income tax. If fairness is your issue, then consider the consequences of using the projected surplus in the federal budget to finance the repeal of the estate tax. Included among the programs that will shrink because they are no longer adjusted for inflation is Head Start, which offers federally funded preschool instruction and meals to children from low-income families. The Clinton administration last fall proposed dropping 111,800 children from the Head Start rolls by fiscal year 2009. The Republican budget proposal would have cut 430,000 children.