MILLIONS? NO, LESS THAN 3100

Bloomberg reports that a modification to the estate tax proposed by Senators Kyl and Lincoln would exempt the first $10 million per couple and tax the rest at 35%. I had expected Kyl to pus for a permanent elimination of the tax, so this is a bit of a surprise.

On the other hand, the wingnuts usually claim that the estate tax is a terrible burden to millions of small business owners. As usual, the truth is far different:

With multimillion-dollar exemptions, a small percentage of the U.S. population would be covered by proposals in Congress. The legislation pushed by Kyl and Lincoln, exempting $10 million per couple from taxation, would affect 3,030 taxpayers this year, including 310 business owners or farmers, according to Tax Policy Center estimates.