We are currently without an estate tax and as 2010 continues, Congress is making little progress on fixing the tax law that created this situation. 2011 is just around the corner and if Congress does not pass new legislation soon, the estate tax will resurface at a much higher tax rate. Yesterday, Senate leaders stated that the estate tax proposal they had been considering fell apart. I guess it is back to the drawing board for Congress with regard to the estate tax.
As blogger Vicki Needham explains, the Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said the accord, which was all but forged a week ago, began to dissolve Monday night and broke down Tuesday.
After talks with Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), scrapped a plan to move forward with the tax that expired at the end of 2009.
The reasoning, Kyl said, is that Senate Democrats aren't allowing any legislation to reach the floor that doesn't have support from the majority of its members.
"We no longer have an agreement because the Democratic side has decided that unless a matter has a guaranteed majority of Democratic votes going in, they're not going to allow it on the floor, at least not voluntarily," he said. "So we have to find a way to get a reasonable permanent estate tax reform to the floor where members can vote on it."