A death tax cloud over family businesses clears

The IRS has promised to revoke the Section 2704 valuation rules, proposed last year, after getting 28,000 negative comments on them.

The rules were projected to raise taxes on family business by $18 billion over ten years, a massive and targeted tax increase.  Why them?  Why was that a good idea?  Why single out family business for punishment?

That revenue projection was from the Obama administration, so I'd take it with a grain of salt. I can't imagine that valuation adjustments to family businesses come to over $3 billion every year (roughly the amount needed to generate $1.8 billion in annual tax savings). Still, it was an obviously terrible idea, one that galvanized small business owners around the country.