The tumultuous travels of the tax reform bill are not quite yet at an end. House Republicans have drawn the proverbial line in the sand regarding the estate tax. They are pushing for full repeal while the Senate is only willing to double the exemption limits. Republican leaders may note this split as a nonstarter, as the margin for error in the Senate is extremely thin. As it stands, the Senate can only lose two votes and still manage to pass the bill. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) highlighted this issue in a statement while on CBS’s “Face the Nation”: “I always wait until the final version of the bill is brought before us, before I make a final decision on whether or not to support it. There are major differences between the House and Senate bills. And I don’t know where the bill is going to come out.”
See Tory Newmyer, The Finance 202: Senate to Draw Red Line on Estate Levy as Part of Tax Negotiations, The Washington Post, December 11, 2017.
Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
