FairEconomy.org - Estate Tax Action Center

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Latest News

March 23, 2004
Call Your Member of Congress to Urge the Defeat of the Budget Proposal Take action now!

March 12, 2004
Farm Bureau County Director Admits the Estate Tax "Seems Like a Bogus Issue" for Most Farmers More...

Mar 8-10, 2004
Estate Tax Education and Lobby Days a Big Success More...

February 18, 2004
New Report: Assessing the Impact of State Estate Taxes From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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State Estate Tax Contacts

New Book on the Estate Tax

Wealth and Our Commonwealth:
Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes

(Beacon Press, 2003)

by William H. Gates, Sr. and Chuck Collins • Foreword by Paul Volcker

Learn more | Order now

The quintessential “Man Bites Dog” story of over 1,000 high-net-worth individuals who rose up to protest the repeal of the estate tax and in the process made headlines everywhere.

Only the richest 2 percent of our nation's families currently pay any estate tax at all. These are people with estates larger than $1.5 million for an individual or $3 million for a couple.

Nearly half of all estate taxes are paid by the wealthiest 0.1% of the American population – a few thousand families each year. Repealing the estate tax would result in multi-million dollar tax cuts to the heirs of America's millionaires and billionaires, concentrating wealth and political power in fewer hands.

Elimination of the estate tax will reduce federal revenue by $982 billion over the next 20 years, a serious blow to the Treasury at a time of unknown challenges. This revenue loss will be made up by raising taxes on lower and middle-income taxpayers and/or by cutting services to the same group.

Repeal of the estate tax would have a devastating impact on charitable giving to colleges, hospitals, museums, land conservancies, and organizations that assist the poor and disadvantaged.

As the law is currently written, the estate tax will be completely repealed only in 2010 and then is fully reinstated in 2011. However, pro-repeal forces in the U.S. Congress are continuing to push for permanent repeal or for an acceleration of the repeal date. Thanks to United for a Fair Economy's Campaign to Preserve the Estate Tax, we’ve been able to prevent permanent repeal of the estate tax.

UFE and its project Responsible Wealth are helping to lead a spirited campaign to change public attitudes – and Senate votes – on the estate tax. We are building broad support for a proposal to reform – not repeal – the estate tax. We support estate tax changes to better protect America’s family farms and small businesses.