The sound of silence: That’s the best way to describe the Senate’s treatment of the death tax this year. The lack of action in the Senate is dumbfounding, since in just a little over five months — on January 1, 2011 — the death tax jumps from 0 percent to 55 percent. But the silence might be broken soon, if Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) successfully forces the Senate to vote on his amendment to repeal the death tax once and for all. Sens. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) and Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.) are also trying to force a vote on their compromise plan, which would set the death tax at a rate of 35 percent with an exemption of $5 million. In a rare moment of wisdom, Congress saw fit to abolish the death tax as part of the 2001–2003 tax relief. Its decision to repeal the death tax was done in recognition of what economists have known for a long time: The death tax is a drag on the economy that destroys jobs and lowers wages. Unfortunately, Congress passed the 2001–2003 tax relief under the budget reconciliation rules we learned so much about during the health-care debate. Policies passed under reconciliation cannot extend outside a ten-year window, so current law has always shown the death tax coming back to life in 2011 despite the repeal. Proponents of the death tax can simply play the waiting game this year; if nothing is done, the death tax will come back at punitive levels next year. The argument in favor of that outcome goes something like this: ● The revenue it raises is vital for Congress; ● It hits only a few large estates, so it really isn’t a drag on the economy; ● It is necessary to provide a more equal distribution of wealth; and ● Wealthy heirs would inherit large estates without paying any tax. My new Heritage Foundation paper, “The Economic Case Against the Death Tax,” rebuts all these assertions, detailing the damage the death tax inflicts on the economy and the jobs it destroys. It also spells out the replacement system (already in place while the death tax is on hiatus) that would take the death tax’s place if Congress does the right thing and repeals the death tax once and for all. Full repeal of the death tax would be the best stimulus for the economy to date. Allowing it to come back to life next year would be a huge blow to the still-staggering economy. It is long past time for the Senate to act on the death tax to give families, family-owned businesses, and family-owned farms the certainty they need to plan and the economy the relief it needs to speed up the recovery. – Curtis S. Dubay is a senior analyst in tax policy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.