No Action on Estate Tax Until Thanksgiving?

Estate planner Lawrence Brody is bugged by Congress, he tells the WSJ Financial Adviser blog. "We are in a place today where we haven’t been for 100 years: we have no federal estate tax."

Brody exaggerates only a little. The U.S. has taxed estates on and off since 1797. However, Americans died tax free from 1902 until the modern estate tax was enacted in 1916.

Will Congress reinstate the estate tax retroactively? "It doesn’t look like they will get around to deciding that until after the November elections." Yikes!