WE ARE ALL TAX CUTTERS NOW:

US House votes to extend inheritance tax (Edward Luce, December 3 2009, Financial Times)

The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to extend the estate, or inheritance, tax permanently, prompting criticism from conservatives, who want it abolished, and liberals, who want it restored to the higher rate that existed before George W. Bush came to office.

The vote, which passed by 225-200, means that the tax would continue in 2010 and 2011 – and beyond – at its current rate. Under the tax cut package that Mr Bush pushed through Congress in 2001, the estate tax was set to expire altogether in 2010 and resume in 2011 at its old rate of 55 per cent on any estates above $1m. Thursday’s vote makes permanent the tax at its current rate of 45 per cent on all estates above $3.5m.

The estate tax is decidedly republican, but 45% seems ample.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 3, 2009 8:48 PM