Barbara Boxer: “the estate tax needs to be reformed, but it should not be repealed. Repealing the estate tax would benefit only the…”

“the estate tax needs to be reformed, but it should not be repealed. Repealing the estate tax would benefit only the extremely wealthy at an exorbitant cost to the American people. We can help small businesses and family farmers by reforming the estate tax. That is the choice before us. Let's start with a few facts. Ninety-eight of every 100 people who die face no estate tax whatsoever. Only the richest 2 percent of Americans do. Estates worth in excess of $5 million paid about 51 percent of the estate tax in 1998. This tax does not oppress the children of multi-millionaires, they still inherit millions. But it does provide us with funds for investment in the public good. It is completely appropriate that the wealthiest estates contribute some portion in taxes to help create opportunities for others to reach their full potential. Repealing the estate tax would make the rich richer at a heavy cost to the rest of us. Between 2013 through 2022, permanent repeal of the estate tax would cost us $740 billion. That is $740 billion we could use for homeland defense, investments in education and infrastructure, and to provide the funds to save Social Security and Medicare. It is true that a few small businesses and family farms are subject to the estate tax. But of the 2.3 million people who died in 1998, just 1,418 of those had more than half of their estates in a family-owned business or farm.”