The Federal Estate Tax
Since 1916, the estate tax has helped protect our economic system from the kinds of inherited aristocracies that once dominated Europe. However, the estate tax was sharply reduced when Congress passed tax cuts for the wealthy in 2001. The promised trickle-down benefits from those tax cuts never came. Instead, we now have the widest disparities of wealth in our nation since the 1920s, just before the Great Depression. It’s time to restore a strong estate tax to help ensure that prosperity is broadly shared in our nation.
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While hard work and luck are a big part of wealth creation, so is our system of public structures – roads, courts, public safety, schools, and more – that are built through generations of public investments funded through our tax system. The estate tax is an esssential way for those who have benefitted the most to reinvest in the society that our tax dollars make possible.
As of January 1, 2010, the estate tax was suspended for one year. Now, the heirs of multi-millionaires and billionaires are set to inherit more, free of the estate tax, than the average American earns in many lifetimes. No one is questioning the right of parents to pass on family wealth to their heirs, but how much is enough?
Cutting the estate tax gives a massive tax break to the wealthiest 1% at the expense of everybody else.
The Latest
OP-ED: Bring Back the Estate Tax NOW!
UFE's partners in estate tax advocacy, Robert Rubin and Julian Robertson, urge Wall Street Journal readers to demand that Congress brings back the estate tax. September 1, 2010
OP-ED: Mickey Mouse, the Estate Tax and Me
Abigail Disney, filmmaker, philanthropist and friend of UFE, shares the story of how government and taxation made her family's good fortune possible in USA Today. August 31, 2010
Lapham Speaks...on NPR's "Here & Now"
Responsible Wealth Director Mike Lapham talks taxes, wealth and philanthropy with Robin Young on NPR's "Here & Now." August 16, 2010
OP-ED: How the Estate Tax Benefits Small Businesses
Jim Amaral, owner of Maine's Borealis Breads, slams conservatives' misappropriation of small businesspeople as poster puppets against the estate tax. He tells us why they're dead wrong. August 12, 2010
New York Tax Law Could Result in Fewer Charitable Donations
Heiress, filmmaker and philanthropist, Abigail Disney–also a UFE Estate Tax Teleconference speaker–lambastes NY Gov. David Paterson's new tax law that places limits on charitable deductions for high earners. August 10, 2010
Political Missteps on the Estate Tax
Heiress and estate tax advocate, Abigail Disney, is quoted in The Boston Globe, stating that her family's success was the direct result not only of hard work and innovation, but also of public investments. July 30, 2010
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: The Latest on the Estate Tax
Chuck Marr, Director of Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), gives us the latest on the estate tax, including projected 10-year losses under extension of 2009 estate tax law and permanent repeal. July 25, 2010
Letter to Senator Cantwell: We Do Not Want Estate Tax Pre-Payment
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is considering a proposal to
weaken the permanent estate tax law by allowing wealthy taxpayers to pre-pay their estate tax with a
35% tax rate while living, in return for having no exemption. We need Washingtonians to send her a message - sign onto our letter now! February 18, 2010
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