A Retroactive Estate Tax

The Wall Street Journal adds the following to the possibility of a retroactive estate tax law for 2010: 

In 1993, the Supreme Court rejected a case challenging a retroactive tax increase that cost the estate of Ellen Clayton Garwood $1.3 million. Another case with a similar claim on the same law was rejected by a lower court.

A retroactive bill probably will trigger legal challenges. [Michael Graetz, a professor at Columbia University and a tax expert,] and others agree that the longer the estate tax remains unresolved, the easier it becomes to make a constitutional argument, especially if a wealthy person dies when the law is in limbo.

Laura Saunders, Uncertainty Swirls Around Estate Tax, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 19, 2009.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.