TAX NEWS - June 2010

MRAA weighs in on estate tax repeal

Minority whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., is pushing to add a repeal of the estate tax to a small business bill coming soon to the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Currently, there is no estate tax because it expired at the end of 2009. But, if Congress does not act, it will return even stronger in 2011 when the top tax rate will jump to 55 percent and the per-person exemption will be set at $1 million, the Marine Retailers Association of America reports.

Kyl has been working with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., on an approach that would result in a top estate tax of 35 percent and a per-person exemption of $5 million.

The Marine Retailers Association of America sent a letter to the Senate, signed onto a newspaper advertisement with the National Federation of Independent Business and will continue to closely watch the estate tax repeal issue, the association said in a statement.