May Exaggerate Effect of Estate Tax Repeal by Bill Ahern Bill Ahern is communications director for the Tax Foundation. The House and Senate have voted to phase out the federal estate and gift tax.
Several factors explain the popularity of that decision.
The estate tax prevents small businesses and farmers from passing their businesses on to the next generation. It penalizes saving and capital formation. It greatly discourages the creation of new wealth by America's most innovative, productive entrepreneurs. The Misleading Estimates of Estate Tax Revenue With all this against it, the estate tax has one last remaining ally, and that is the belief, supported by official estimates, that its repeal would cost the U.S. Treasury substantial revenue. In fact, eliminating the estate tax would not cost the Treasury nearly as much as official estimates show.