The real estate bubble that makes for $500K suburban homes at the moment is very receent indeed (curse it). The estate tax is clearly designed to hit the really wealthy; it's just that inflation has gotten ahead of the current limits.

(I believe my grandparents' estate invokes the estate tax, but if so, I am certain they would have liked it that way, because they were strong supporters of big government.)

My descendants are at least three generations away from worrying about inheritance.

If every single relative I have died tomorrow, I'd get bupkis. And I don't like the idea of waiting for people to die to get anything. It's kind of creepy.

And this is why I don't understand why repealing the "death tax" has somehow become such an issue.

Because the rhetoric around the death tax will soon make it harder to create an inter vivos trust without taxing it.

It's double dipping. ALL of the money will be taxed, once, either by income tax on the original investment or cap gains on the profit. An estate with unrealized gains can't be lived on (maybe in, if it's a house)-- no one is living large off of an estate with unrealized gains.

It's another bite at the apple, the same way that corporate tax simply places an extra tax on everything you consume, your wages or dividends.

inheritance has always been a default assumption of western culture, hasn't it?

Heh. At the moment, I'm looking at inheriting a whole lotta debt and not much else.

ETA: That was just a sidenote to the discussion. Don't have time right now to comment on the actual estate tax dilemma.

OK, I'm not an expert on the inheritance tax. So what really bugs me is that this is yet another tax cut that will only help the very wealthy (how many major tax cuts have there been in the last 5 years that have gone mostly to the wealthy? Four? Five? I've lost count). Also, I'm scared as to what's gonna happen with the huge budget deficits we're having and will continue to have for a long time, and repealing the estate tax will make things worse.

So, wait, I'm sorry -- unrealized gains are taxed in the inheritance tax? That is, I'd get taxed on the full current value of my parents' investments?

Also, I'm scared as to what's gonna happen with the huge budget deficits we're having and will continue to have for a long time, and repealing the estate tax will make things worse.

But if allow the rich people to keep their money, it will magically trickle down. Or so I've been told.

I'm looking at inheriting a whole lotta debt

That part's totally not fair¹. What steps can one take (other than eliminating it) to prevent your descendants from being in that position?

¹: Okay, it's totally fair. It's just not nice.

It's the trap of the middle and working classes, I think. Owning property offsets it, but when one's parents (like mine) got divorced in their fifties and had to get brand new 30 year mortgages...well...

I acrually have expectations of some kind of inheritance from my grandfather's trust. I get these statements from my grandmother's lawyer every so often detailing what's going on with the estate, but I don't pay close attention because as far as I'm concerned, that's her money. If there's enough left when she passes on to be taxed, so be it. If there's nothing much left, that's cool too.