George Steinbrenner’s well-timed death — though I suspect he may not have seen it that way — points up the insanity of the current estate tax situation. As The Post and Katrina vanden Heuvel have noted, the billionaire Yankees owner could end up owing no federal estate tax — because there is no federal estate tax this year.

Last year, Steinbrenner’s heirs would have faced a tax rate of 45 percent on the bulk of his estate. Next year, the tax is set to spring back to a 55 percent rate. Congress is not going to let this happen — but it is also unlikely to do away with the estate tax altogether.

Hence the good timing of Steinbrenner and three fellow billionaires who have died already this year. You know there is something very wrong with the tax code when you have estate planners saying things like “if you’re super-wealthy, it’s a good year to die,” as BDO Seidman’s Jack Nuckolls told the Associated Press. The AP put the Steinbrenner family’s savings in the neighborhood of $500 million.