Breath (Wasted) and Taxes

So far this year, all the talk of urgent tax legislation to restore the estate tax and preserve Bush tax cuts has been wasted breath. And the outlook for the second half of 2010 is no better.

From Up in the Air: Your Taxes in The Wall Street Journal:

"I've never seen so many tax issues that need to be addressed in so little time," says Lindy Paull, a former top congressional tax staffer now with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

If lawmakers don't act, estate taxes will rise, the alternative minimum tax will hit millions more taxpayers, and many useful benefits will expire. Tax rates also will rise for all, and for investors the top rate on dividends will jump to nearly 40% from 15%.

Congress has fewer than 40 working days left before the November election, with no lame-duck session scheduled.

Ms. Paull shares Jim Gust's instinct that we won't see estate-tax legislation until 2011.

Have a nice Fourth of July anyway.