Today the Administration released its FY 2011 Budget, which includes three proposals aimed to increase estate-related taxes by $23.73 billion over the next ten years. Last year Policy and Taxation Group was successful in working to prevent these tax increases from being included in any legislation moving forward. Read more...
On a party-line vote, today the Senate accepted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) amendment to re-impose a statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirement that spending increases and revenue decreases be offset by equal amounts of spending decreases and revenue increases. Read more...
Baucus and Reid on Estate Tax Expectations
Late last week, BNA reported that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) indicated that he intends to draft legislation that would reinstate the estate tax retroactively, but that he was unsure when legislation might be ready for consideration on the floor. Read more...
Political Landscape Changing in Washington
Tuesday’s come-from-behind election victory for Scott Brown (R-MA) to Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat (D-MA) has changed the game on a number of issues on Capitol Hill, most notably health care reform, but it also will likely have ramifications for us as well. Read more...
House Returning This Week without Plan for Estate Tax
The new year has begun and Hill staff have indicated both publicly and privately that there is not yet consensus among Democratic leaders on how to address the estate tax. Read more...
Estate Tax Reform Likely Postponed Until 2010
The situation on estate tax reform has been very fluid on Capitol Hill over the past several days. As we reported on Sunday, late last week Senate and House leaders, recognizing that their procrastination on the issue had left few options, began to negotiate the inclusion of a temporary extension of the estate tax at current levels in the “must-pass” defense appropriations bill. Read more...
Estate Tax Reform Update
Following passage by the House last week of a permanent extension of 2009 law, attention has now turned to the Senate, where the chamber continues to focus increasingly precious floor time on health care reform. Read more...
House Passes Permanence
Instead of
One-Year Freeze
Over the last three months, we have worked strategically to move House leaders away from legislative proposals that would merely extend the current estate tax for one year or eliminate important valuation discount planning techniques. Read more...
House Plans for Permanence over Temporary Freeze
Good news! On October 22, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) publicly reported that his committee is preparing legislation to permanently freeze the estate tax at current levels instead of opting for a one-year freeze that would force us to fight against an automatic 55% rate and $1 million exemption next year. Read more...
Berkley Bill Introduced, House Leaders Consider Estate Tax Approach
Today Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced her bipartisan estate tax reform bill with fellow sponsoring Representatives Artur Davis (D-AL and member of Congressional Black Caucus), Kevin Brady (R-TX and repeal bill sponsor) and Devin Nunes (R-CA). Read more...
Congress Prepares for Fall Battle on Estate Tax Reform
As Congress has returned from the August recess, the House and Senate have begun to turn their attention to estate tax reform. And the stakes in this fall’s battle couldn’t be higher for families. Read more...
Opportunities and Challenges for Estate Tax Reform
This spring, Congress and the President have taken several steps that have begun to set the stage for the upcoming fight this fall over estate tax reform. Read more...
Congress Should Reject Treasury’s “Greenbook” Estate and Gift Tax Increases
In the Treasury Department’s “Greenbook” released on May 11, 2009, the Administration proposed partially offsetting the cost of health care reform with three increases in estate and gift taxes. These proposals would arbitrarily increase the tax burden on individuals and family businesses and would be inconsistent with the goal of permanent and fair estate tax relief. These three changes include: Read more...
“Dear Mr. Collins and Mr. Gates:
I am writing this letter to
bring to your attention a very grievous
misstatement of
fact on page 108 of
the above
book. You wrote:..” Response to "Wealth and Our Commonwealth".
Patricia Soldano speaks at National Women's Business Council conference.
