The “death tax” is too funny, the Republican spinmasters named it that so that Alabama Joe Sixpack would think it’s an awful idea and that it needs to go. Little does Alabama Joe Sixpack know that unless he’s got $2M in assets his estate won’t be taxed a penny when he dies. (Alabama Joe Sixpack doesn’t know how to use “the internets” or “the google” to look up the info on the IRS website, so he lets Fox News tell him everything he needs to know). As for those family businesses, they can definitely be stung by it but a good estate plan can help minimize the effects.
How many people in the US even die with a $2M estate? It is so funny that people will vote to get rid of it when all they’ve got is $50K in their 401K. And of course some of the world’s richest men are big supporters of the estate tax.