Is Repeal Close to Being Repealed?

The Senate has passed the jobs bill, and health reform seems to be on the back burner for a while. Harry Reid says travel promotion is next on the agenda for the Senate, and after that could be some tax legislation. Perhaps within a few days.

Of course, on this blog, when we're thinking tax legislation, we're thinking estate tax legislation. Senator Jon Kyl, as quoted by The Hill, seems to like that idea, and there may be several others in the Senate who are willing to bring the estate tax into the tax debate. Kyl likes a 35 percent tax rate and an exclusion amount of $5 million, and that may be too high for the Democrats. But we would rather see the Senate at least discussing the issue instead of ignoring it.

Perhaps the Senate is beginning to feel some pressure from constituents. We're nearly two months into repeal, and there hasn't been even the briefest discussion of the estate tax on the floor of the Senate. The Treasury loses money every day that repeal remains in effect. But it's not too late yet.