From both an economic and political perspective, there is a great deal to be said for the estate tax: it doesn’t interfere very much with the normal incentives to create wealth; there is a guaranteed pile of assets from which it can be paid; and it helps to reduce inequality. For some reason, however, the Democrats have always seemed to be far more focused on marginal income tax rates than on keeping a robust estate tax. The question for today is why?
There are several possibilities. First, they may view it as being an insignificant source of revenue in the big fiscal picture. Second, they may buy into the notion that it is fundamentally unfair to impose further misery on the (presumably) grieving heirs. Third, some extremely wealthy people, for a variety of reasons, are Democrats, and the party may be responding to their interests.
It would be very easy for the Democrats to make the point that Trump and his heirs will be among the principal beneficiary of the repeal of the estate tax when the tax reform bill starts moving. Under these circumstances, however, will they actually take advantage of that opportunity? I have my doubts.