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Apr 16, 2015
To highlight “tax day,” on Wednesday, House Republicans voted on several bills to provide tax relief, including a bill to repeal the estate tax. While the estate tax repeal easily passed the House by a vote of 240-179, it is extremely unlikely to be enacted into law.
President Obama has issued a veto threat and the Senate has given no indication of plans to vote on a stand-alone bill to repeal the estate tax. The Senate Finance Committee is considering comprehensive tax reform, which could conceivably include estate tax repeal or changes addressing the impact of the tax, but reaching a bipartisan agreement that would be necessary for such a measure to pass the Senate is not likely.
Under current law, there is a $5 million exemption level per individual ($10 million per couple), a top rate of 40 percent, as well as spousal transfer provisions, step-up in basis and indexing of the tax for inflation.
