But reading the summary of H.R. 4853 on Thomas shows that this is an income tax bill only. Although the estate tax was one of the original Bush tax cuts, it is not part of H.R. 4853. Whether the Senate passes this bill will make no difference to the estate tax, scheduled to return to 2001 levels in just 28 days.
The Senate would have to consider H.R. 4154, which is an estate tax bill, if it wanted to prevent the estate tax from affecting middle class taxpayers. H.R. 4154 would restore the estate tax to its 2009 levels, which include a $3.5 million exemption from the tax. But H.R. 4154, passed by the House last Dec. 20, doesn't seem to have much support in this lame duck session.
Of course, the provisions of H.R. 4154 could always be tacked onto H.R. 4853, which is already an odd collection of tax subjects, starting with the Airport and Airway Tax Fund. When it was strictly an airport bill, H.R. 4853 was passed by the Senate earlier this year and sent to the House, where it has stagnated until the House suddenly decided it really ought to be called the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010. That's the bill that will be on the Senate calendar tomorrow.
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