Billionaires Lobby for Reinstatement of Estate Tax

While many wealthy people lobby for the permanent repeal of the estate and gift taxes, other wealthy individuals lobby for the exact opposite. Hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson, Disney heiress Abigail Disney, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin joined in a teleconference recently to insist that Congress restore a hefty estate tax before it breaks for recess in August. These individuals feel that an inheritance tax is a way to help America raise money and prevent undeserving individuals from receiving windfalls.

“So there’s broad agreement–outside Congress at least–that something should be done on the estate tax before the elected officials go home to play, or politic, or fund raise. But even among billionaires, there’s little consensus on what should be done.”

Ashlea Ebeling and Janet Novack, Billionaires Battle on Estate Tax, Forbes, July 21, 2010.