Senator Baucus: No Agreement Yet On Estate Tax Bill

Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT), said on May 18 that Democrats and Republicans have yet to reach a compromise on the future of the estate tax.

Baucus said, "there's no agreement on the estate tax on either the substance or process. None whatsoever."

A potential deal to extend the estate tax at a 35 percent top rate and a $ 5 million exemption level, indexed for inflation, has met resistance from rank-and-file Democrats.

"The idea that we're going to give an incredible economic advantage to less than 1 percent of our taxpaying population is really offensive to me," Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) told reporters. "Most of our caucus is very concerned with what would happen on the estate tax."

In the event that the Senate fails to pass new legislation, the estate tax will return in 2011 with a $ 1 million exemption and a 55 percent maximum tax rate.

See Eric Kroh, "No Deal Yet on Estate Tax, Baucus Says," 2010 TNT 96-5, May 19, 2010.

Posted by Marc Patterson, General Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.