Under the Bush tax cuts, the federal "death tax" - a levy taken in federal taxes from a person's possessions after he or she dies - diminished over the past decade and finally fortunately disappeared in 2010.
That was only fair, because taxes had already been paid on that money at least once, when it was earned. It should not be taxed a second time before it is passed on to family or other heirs.
But unless there is prompt remedial action by Congress, the death tax will return - and will skyrocket to as high as 55 percent in 2011!
That's unconscionable! It is not just taxation. It's confiscation.
The up-to-55 percent death tax, which would take effect if Congress doesn't act to prevent it, reportedly has some people considering desperate measures.
Wyoming's only member of the U.S. House of Representatives is hearing from elderly constituents who say they might end life-sustaining medical procedures they are undergoing - so they will die soon and be able to bequeath their estates to their heirs before the huge new tax can kick in next year.
Some farmers and ranchers want to pass along "their life's work" to their families rather than to the wasteful, bloated federal government, Rep. Cynthia Lummis said.
"If you have spent your whole life building a ranch, and you wanted to pass your estate on to your children, and you were 88 years old and on dialysis, and the only thing that was keeping you alive was that dialysis, you might make that same decision," she said.
We certainly do not endorse ending any medical treatments for the purpose of avoiding a massive tax.
But the sick and the elderly should not have to consider dying earlier as a means to avoid higher taxes. They should be able to die a normal death and still pass along to their families what their hard work has earned over the years.
Even if you aren't concerned about the question of tax justice, there is another excellent reason the death tax should not be reinstated: jobs.
Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, estimates that a big new death tax would mean the loss of 1.4 million to 1.5 million jobs. That's because the high tax would reduce the incentive that small businesses have to hire workers. What's the point of building up and expanding a business if you know that your success will only make it more likely that you will be hit with a 55 percent tax upon your death?
Especially in this time of economic crisis, Congress should extend all of the Bush tax cuts.
And even if we are not personally in a tax situation to be subject to the death tax, we should insist that Congress, as a matter of justice, abandon the death tax, and allow whatever remains to be left to the dying person's family or other designated heirs.