Earlier this morning, the Senate voted 51-49 to pass its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) being the lone Republican to vote against the bill (along with the all 48 Democrats.

Though it does not include repeal of the Death Tax, it doubles the personal exemption amount from the current $5 million to $10 million, indexed for inflation, but the doubling of the exemption would sunset at the end of 2025.

While the Senate’s approach is less than ideal, it is important to remember that the House’s approach is much more favorable. By way of reminder, for tax years beginning after 2017 and before 2024, the House bill doubles the personal exemption; however, the legislation would repeal the estate and GST tax beginning in 2025.

Additionally, note that both pieces of legislation would provide more favorable tax treatment for pass-through entities.

In terms of next steps, the Senate and House will now conference their respective bills to arrive at a final product to be voted on by each Chamber as early as Monday next week with a small Conference Committee that could decide by TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK! This provides us with another critical opportunity to seek RATE REDUCTION aspart of the final tax reform package. As such, I am asking you to reach out to your Senators and Representatives today to ensure that they understand that the Death Tax must be repealed or the rate reduced now, and here is the message:

“While we all want repeal and really appreciate Chairman Brady’s work on getting repeal in the House bill, it is not in the Senate bill. If it is not possible to get immediate permanent repeal, then we should lower the rate of tax to 20% which cost $130 billion, and not $172 billion which is in Chairman Brady’s bill. If we only double the exemption, it will only take care of 66% of all businesses, what about the ones that employ 100’s or 1000’s of people.”

Again, this is all happening very quickly, so make those calls now!!

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,
Pat