Estate Tax Malarkey – FactCheck.org

Misleading ads exaggerate what the tax costs farmers, small businesses and “your family.”

Summary

In TV and radio ads two conservative groups greatly overstate the burden that the federal estate tax puts on heirs to a family farm or business.

One ad claims the federal estate tax “can bury your family in crippling tax bills,” which is untrue for nearly all of those who will see the ad, including the large majority of farm and business owners. Both ads claim the estate tax is a “double tax,” which is only partly true, and mostly false when it comes to very wealthy families.

We take no position on whether the estate tax should or should not be repealed permanently. The claims made in these one-sided ads, however, present a misleading picture of who is actually affected by the tax.