Kent Conrad: “This amendment improves our debt reduction by ending the repeal of the estate tax. The estate tax is ended just before…”

“This amendment improves our debt reduction by ending the repeal of the estate tax. The estate tax is ended just before we begin the second decade, right at the time the baby boomers start to retire and the cost of this tax bill then explodes to about $4 trillion. My amendment is simple. It continues all of the provisions to increase the unified credit so that a couple could pass $8 million with no estate tax. In addition, we preserve stepped up basis so that you pay future taxes on the basis of the value of the property when you inherit it, not on the basis of what your grandfather paid or what your father paid. I believe this is a sound amendment and one that deserves the support of our colleagues.”