That's Right. $10,860,000.

       What if a wealthy couple were tragically killed in an automobile accident? If their estate totals $10,860,001, their heirs will have to pay a 40% estate tax on just $1, for a total tax of $0.40. That's because the current tax excludes $10,860,000 for couples or $5,430,000 for single persons. Now isn't that a horribly punishing state of affairs? Ya know what's an even more punishing affair? Some members of Congress are trying to eliminate the estate tax altogether.
       What's so unfair about the estate tax that some folks think it must be eliminated? The claim seems to be that the taxes on this income have already been paid, by the ones who died. To tax it again would be double taxation. Come on, the tax wasn't paid by the heirs, but by their parents. And in many cases, if you checked their tax returns, they probably didn't pay anything at all on that money. And anyway, everybody pays tax on their income and then pays taxes on that money again in sales taxes and a whole host of other taxes.
       The thing is, America needs more funding, not less. And with the degree of economic inequality in this country, why would we feel the need to create more inequality? Nobody really believes in the trickle down theory anymore, well, except for a few politicians and the very wealthy one tenth of one percent of the population.
        If anything. we need to increase the tax by lowering the amount from $10,860,000 to maybe $5,000,000. and increase the tax from 40% to 50%. It's time for these one percenters to start paying some taxes. After WWII the tax on the highest earners was upwards of 90%. Nobody cried in their beer of manhattans and moved out. They just worked harder.