A recent Special Report from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan group that describes itself as favoring simplicity, transparency, neutrality, stability, etc. in our tax system, concludes that the federal estate tax will “return from the dead” on January 1, 2011 even though “the arguments for making repeal permanent are strong.”

According to the report, before 2010 the estate tax raised revenue (approx. $25 billion per year), but this revenue “is largely diverted from other government accounts, generating a small net collection.” The report adds that “[t]he estate tax is complex to the point of absurdity, to the point where even a savvy lawyer or accountant would be a fool to plan his own estate if he had substantial wealth.”

A full copy of this report is available via link from the Tax Foundation website at http://taxfoundation.org/publications/show/26360.html.