Death Tax

This is an article from www.foxbusiness.com
While we keep counting down until the Bush tax cuts expire, there is another concern cropping up in 31 days: the death tax!

If Congress does nothing the death tax jumps from 0% to 55% on Jan. 1!

That tax would apply to estates of a $1 million or more, which is nearly 2% of estates in this country, and would generate nearly $34.5 billion.

This deadline should not come as a shock to those on the hill, it's been in place since Bush signed the plan back in 2000. However, procrastination and lack of agreement has left us facing a ridiculous tax in just 31 days.

In the last few days there has been some movement on fixing the issue, with three plans leading the discussion.

Why Congress Can’t Keep its Hands off Our Money Let's take a look:
First there's the Tea Party plan sponsored by South Carolina Sen. Jim Demint. This plan would permanently repeal the death tax all together, a noble goal--but let's face it--not very likely of passing.

Then there's the Harry Reid plan: he would make the death tax 45% of estates worth more than $3.5 million. That would impact a quarter of a percent of U.S. estates and generate just over $18 billion in revenue.

And third: Senators Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, and Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat have managed to reach a compromise. They want the tax to be just 35% on estates worth more than $5 million!

That means only 0.1% of families will have to dole out exorbitant amounts after the death of a loved one and it would still generate more than $11 billion. Too bad Sen. Lincoln is finishing up her time in office thanks to the last election so who knows if this plan has a shot.

Right now Congress is too busy fighting with each other over the Bush tax cuts and the same argument applies - it doesn't take a lot to get to a million dollars - and these people shouldn't be forced to pay taxes on top of taxes just because Congress couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time!