WSJ: estate tax repeal could raise taxes for some

The opening lines of a February 13, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Why No Estate Tax Could Be a Killer, by Laura Saunders, capture the point:

Congress shocked everyone by letting the estate tax lapse on Jan. 1.

Now, here is the real stunner: For many, the lapse actually will raise taxes.

The following image visually displays how repeal can cost some people more in taxes:

Saunders has written another very interesting article and I am sure many of us will be discussing it.  For example, in Estate Tax Repeal Good For The Rich, Bad For the Middle Class (Hahn’s Estate Planning Blog, 2/12/10), Joseph Hahn writes, “As many of us suspected, the capital gains issue will impact many, many more households than the estate tax ever did.”