Major reform is needed, but the GOP legislation goes too far, in a way that could change the American ethic. President Clinton should veto the bill, as promised. The root question is whether America wants to encourage the hereditary transfer of wealth over many generations, creating, in effect, a permanent aristocracy. I support some of the recent tax-cut proposals. Still, the Republican proposal is potentially corrosive.
Total elimination is the problem.
That may sound like the politics of class warfare, but it made some sense then, and it makes some sense now. It's hard to parse the motivation for a law. But it had something to do with what America would be. We rejected kings, queens, princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, earls, counts, viscounts, barons, marquis and maharajahs. The estate tax is of a piece with such a social view.