Worry about 'death tax' for the right reasons

Category: Estate and Inheritance Tax

From the Op-Ed Section of the Houston Cronical a pointed look at the federal estate tax in Worry about 'death tax' for the right reasons:

"A couple of weeks ago, my 13-year-old son came home complaining about the death tax.

It was his first foray into the murky quagmire of politics versus policy. He did the best he could.

Did you know, he asked me, that if you die and leave me money, that the government will take half of it?

That line of thinking floats around blogs, water coolers and holiday parties like conversational spam, so there's no telling where he picked it up. I calmly told him that he should be so lucky."

The article goes on to describe the estate tax debate as "the stuff of political irony. It draws the ire of millions of people who are unaffected by it." as well as its limited reach to taxpayers in comparison to funds collected.