My disclaimer is that I am a proud conservative who does not agree with the death tax in principal, especially when you pay tax money on your estate throughout your lifetime. However, there are several legal arguments to consider that do hold some water such as when you die, you are no longer afforded the "rights" of the Constitution since you are dead and dead people have no rights. Therefore, Constitutional arguments are hard to prove under the 8th or 5th Amendment. I hope we keep fighting the "liberal feelings" arguments with solid facts and reason. Ultimately, it will be reason that prevails. Thanks for reading.

I urge people to read about the subject, if it so interests you, to not fall into the same pitfalls that the liberals do, which is to play semantics with words by calling it "the death tax" and making emotional arguements instead of factual ones. I agree with many here that it just doesn't seem right to have your estate taxed after you die, but the argument against it has to be more than "it just doesn't seem right." Compounding to the problem, is that the facts about this tax is that it really doesn't effect average citizens. So the liberals and socialists in this country make valid points when they claim that Republicans and Conservatives have been duped into advocating for a position that does not benefit them but benefits the rich. However, the liberal/socialist always doubts that doing the right thing means doind what's best for ones personal interest and cannot understand that conservatives stand on principal and the principal that we stand on is individual property rights given to man by God and not our Constitution. They cannot be taken away by man and his laws. Even in death.

This exemption is reduced to $1 million next year and then eliminated in 2011. Meaning that many people actually plan to go oversees and kill themselves to avoid this tax this year because of the tax incentive (pretty sick huh). Anyway, whether or not you are pro or con the "death tax," I just want people to know that this tax does not really effect the average citizen. And if you have a good lawyer, which most super wealthy Americans do, there are still multiple ways of reducing if not completely avoiding all death taxes if you structure your estate correctly. So do not buy into the hypeAlso, there are some myths concerning this tax as well, like they had to take some guys farm away to pay the death tax. That story is not true and I urge you to investigate for yourself.

I am a firm believer in education is a key to freedom. I was interested in the "death tax" when I was attneding law school and took a class on gift and estate taxes. I want to let people know that this tax only effects roughly 4% of the popluation or less (I can't remember but its very small). Under Bush, there were exemptions. There is currently a threshold that you have to meet before you are taxed at all. No estate that is smaller than $3.5 million will be taxed (Federal not state, states are usually much lower than Fed) And if you are married and have a decent attorney, you can add your spouses credit to the total making your estate as large as $7 million before anything is taxed by the death tax aka estate tax.