Forget AIG: The Outrage Is Estate Tax Giveaway

Ten Senate Democrats have joined with Republicans in opposing President Obama’s plan to reinstate the estate tax, set by the Bush team to expire next year, on amounts over $3.5 million. Michael Kinsley, writing in the Washington Post, has one question: “Why in the world?” Currently, rich couples can leave $7 million to their kids without paying a cent, but the senators want to make it $10 million and lower the tax rate from 45% to 35%.. “This is amazing,” writes an astonished Kinsley.

“To save these very few, very wealthy people a small fraction of their estates, these senators are willing to hand their party’s president an embarrassing defeat.” This ought to be a bigger outrage than the AIG bonuses; we’re talking about billions here, he says. Normally Republicans argue that lowering taxes encourages people to work harder. But dropping the estate tax “can’t possibly motivate those kids to inherit harder.”