Think $4 billion would help our government?
Here's an article about Houston's Dan Duncan's death this year and his $9 billion estate, which will completely escape estate taxes (although his heirs may be liable for capital gains taxes upon the sale of some of his assets). Had an estate tax been in place this year, the IRS would have received about $4 billion from Duncan's estate. Not much in terms of the federal budget, but think how far that amount would go in cleaning up the gulf oil mess.
