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Article: Public ignorance and estate tax repeal: the effect of partisan differences and survey incentives.
- Article from:
- National Tax Journal
- Article date:
- September 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Tax Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
In 2001, Congress passed and President Bush signed several tax cut bills. One target of this legislation was the federal estate tax. Prior to passage of the 2001 bills, the tax applied to inheritances of more than $1 million at a rate of up to 56 percent. The new legislation reduces the rate to 45 percent and increases the application threshold to $3.5 million by 2009. In 2010, the federal estate tax disappears altogether. But the law also has a sunset provision. Without further congressional action, the federal estate tax returns to its 2001 levels in 2011.
When these changes were made, only about 2 percent of the population paid the ...