Estate Tax Extension: Lost in the Shuffle?

The easiest way to avoid next year's scheduled repeal of the federal estate tax is to preserve the status quo. But some seek a lower exemption, as noted in the preceding post. Others, including members of the Senate, favor cutting the tax rate and raising the exemption from $3.5 million to $5 million.

The fate of the estate tax is blurred, The Wall Street Journal notes, because Congress can't think about much but health insurance. A WSJ graphic, with data drawn from a Tax Policy Center study, suggests that lowering the exemption would be mostly a political move: The bulk of estate tax is collected from large estates.

Even so, wouldn't a lower estate-tax exemption provide economic stimulus for estate planners?