On Tuesday, Americans for a Fair Estate Tax (AFET), a diverse coalition of public interest groups that OMB Watch is a part of and that champion a strong estate tax, adopted a new statement of principles on the tax. We argue that with both a dire need for the government to increase investment in basic public services and a credible long-term deficit problem looming, this is no time for Congress to grant further financial relief to the country's wealthiest citizens by reducing the estate tax.

In the document, Americans for a Fair Estate Tax further maintains that the estate tax provides a needed check on the concentration of wealth and power in this country while ensuring that those families who have benefited the most from publically provided goods pay their fair share to maintain them.

With this in mind, AFET calls on Congress and the President to take the following steps:

• Exempt no more than the first $2 million ($4 million for married couples) of assets in an estate.
• Set a tax rate of no less than 45 percent for the taxable portion of estates, with an additional 10 percent tax on the taxable portion exceeding $10 million.
• Restore a credit for state estate and inheritance taxes.
• Simplify the estate tax by reunifying the gift and estate tax, and allow for portability of estate tax exemptions between spouses.

You can read the specifics of these proposals within our statement of principles.

Image by Flickr user ilConte used under a Creative Commons license.