New Jersey estate planning attorney Deirdre R. Wheatley-Liss is the author of the You and Yours Blawg. In this posting, she recently provided an excellent summary of a few recently published studies “debunking” many of the myths/arguments usually put forth in favor of estate tax repeal. This is highly recommended reading for those following this debate.
The following is an excerpt from Deirdre’s blog posting:
In yesterday’s post, Who Wants Estate Tax Repeal – The Uber-Rich Lobby (98%+ chance you aren’t one of them) I highlighted a new report from Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy that demonstrated how “18 families worth a total of $185.5 billion have financed and coordinated a 10-year effort to repeal the estate tax, a move that would collectively net them a windfall of $71.6 billion.”
In the report entitled “Spending Millions to Save Billions – The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax” Public Citizen’s Congress Watch and United for a Fair Economy explore and refute some common myths about the estate tax. These myths are just plain wrong “facts” that many believe to be gospel truth about the estate tax, but are, in real fact, just plain wrong. I thought the report did such an excellent job of educating readers about the true role of the estate tax, that wanted to highlight some of the information here. This is a long post, but it gets to the heart of the matter of the estate tax. The education it provides is worth scrolling down for.