Tom Carper: “I have asked my staff to see if they can find some charts--maybe the kind of charts prepared by our friend, Senator…”

“I have asked my staff to see if they can find some charts--maybe the kind of charts prepared by our friend, Senator Conrad. Let's look at this first chart. One of the charts I asked to see if they can find is a chart that deals with what has happened in this decade under current law with respect to the amount of an estate that is excluded from the estate tax so we can see what it looks like over time and what the rates look like over time. As I recall, the amount that could be excluded from the estate tax in 2001 was about $1.35 million. It went up to $2 million, $3 million, and this year it is about $4 million combined, two people in a family, husband and wife, and then I believe in 2009 there is $3.5 million excluded for each spouse, for a total of $7 million for a family in which there are two people. The amount of the tax, going back to 2001, I believe was about 55 percent. Over time it has been decreasing, so that in 2009 the amount of the estate that will be excluded from the tax is $7 million, and I believe the rate is 45 percent. The next year, in 2010, there is no estate tax, and then in 2011 we go back to where it was in 2001, which is again about a little less than $1.5 million, and the rate would be 55 percent. People like to have some certainty in their lives so they can do planning for a whole lot of activities. Certainly businesses like to have certainty so they can do planning.…”