"People should get ahead on their own merit, not based on the wealth of their parents," said Lee Farris, a senior organizer on estate tax policy at United for a Fair Economy. "And that's a core principal on which the American nation was founded: a belief in a meritocracy, not the belief in people who win the genetic lottery."

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Expiring Estate Tax Resurrects Congressional Tax Standoff

FoxNews.com, December 23, 2009

"For the super-wealthy -- or the merely very rich -- struggling to cope with their lavish lifestyles, 2010 may indeed prove, in morbid terms, to be a "good" year to die.

That's because the top tax rate for estates valued at more than $7 million, which is currently 45 percent, drops to zero next year. In 2011, it will be resurrected at the higher rate of 55 percent for estates valued at more than $1 million. [...]

Each year, some 5,500 people in America are subjected to the estate tax. But next year, changes in the capital gains tax will further complicate estate planning as will likely congressional action.

The House has passed an extension of current law and the Senate is set to take up the issue next year.

Democratic leaders, who support the estate tax, could make a new law retroactive to January 1 -- a move likely to lead to legal challenges. [...]"

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