[A CA Guy]

Right, entitlements from politician spending starting way back.
My point is that if we keep the estate tax with all the money that will be coming in as lots of people age. Rather than allow politicians to go on a spending fest, I think they should direct the money at reducing or paying off the debt.

We would also need to pass some laws restricting use of monies from the estate tax so politicians don't take it all for their home towns and vacations.

The history is what it is, but the debt is here and needs to be reduced or eliminated.

We shouldn't pass this like a curse down through to future generations.

[Swiss]

It wasn't cuts in spending that balanced the budget. I would hazard a guess that the budget in the 1920's was greater than before World War I. In 1920 the nation had the largest debt at that time and was in recession. Using your logic we would of maintained taxes or increased them. The Republicans cut them sharply and caused the economy to grow. The key to reducing the debt is to help the economy.

The Estate Tax only brings in 1.4% of government revenues. It is something like 60 Billion dollars a year which is pocket change in Washington. On the other hand by moving money from estate lawyers and trusts and the Federal Government to more productive economic uses such as reinvestment into the farms and businesses would cause increase business activity which would mean more government taxes. There is a good chance that eliminating the estate tax would bring in at least double the estate tax revenue in other taxes.