With Congress in recess until early next week, Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) continue to discuss whether the charitable giving incentives and reforms will move as part of a forthcoming tax "extenders" package.

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Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 04:59:47 PM



Update On the Estate Tax from Our Budget Department
>When Congress returns from their week-long Memorial Day recess next week, the Senate is expected to take up a vote to repeal the estate tax, perhaps as early as Wednesday, June 7. And while Republicans are unlikely to garner the 60 votes needed to pass full repeal of the tax, there is a possibility a sham "reform" plan championed by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) or an extremely costly one from Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) could gain the necessary support to pass. Sen. Kyl's proposal amounts to nothing more than back-door repeal of the tax as it would cost upwards of 85 percent of the cost of full repeal.

There was an excellent column in the Washington Post on May 31 called Estate Tax Lunacy. Columnist Harold Meyerson succinctly sums up the current estate tax situation, correctly pointing out that "If enacted, Kyl's bill would plunge the government another trillion dollars into the red during the first decade (2011-2021) that it would be in effect.... To cover those and other needs, Congress will either plunge us deeper into debt or increase some other levies -- payroll taxes, say -- that will come out of the pockets of the 99 percent of Americans whom the estate tax doesn't touch."

Additionally, Rep. Henry Waxman's Committee on Government Reform staff has put together a report analyzing the impact repeal would have on the families of six senior executives of major oil companies. It reveals that estate tax repeal would give over a $200 million windfall to the six families of the executives.

Today, the Americans for a Fair Estate Tax Coalition, in partnership with the Coalition on Human Needs and the Emergency Campaign for America's Prioirities and other partners sent a letter to the Senate signed by over 700 national, state, and local organizations from all fifty states urging every Senator to oppose efforts to repeal or gut the estate tax. You can read the letter and view the signatories here.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 09:56:18 AM