You've worked generations to build up YOUR families ranch, Farm, Company or Restaurant. The the gov wants to come along and steal 50% or better of it.

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Dilbert creator Scott Adams called it confiscation when he explained why he switched from Clinton to Trump. Just consider the fact that Secretary Clinton wanted to raise the estate tax to an astounding 65%, while Donald Trump vowed to repeal it. And with a Republican House and Republican Senate, he just might.

He is after other taxes too, of course, such as those enacted as part of Obamacare. But in some ways, the estate tax is an annoying throwback that can make people’s blood boil

Current law exempts estates worth $5.45 million or less. Beyond that, you pay 40%. A number of Democrats, including Secretary Clinton, called for whittling the $5.45 million figure down to $3.5 million, and upping the 40% estate tax rate to 45%. Then, as the election drew near, she proposed much higher 50%, 55%, and 65% estate tax rates, depending on your wealth. The proposed 50% rate was for estates worth over $10 million per person, 55% for estates over $50 million, and 65% for estates exceeding $500 million.

President Elect Trump wants to repeal the estate tax entirely.

pponents claim that the tax is a true double tax having no place in America. As Candidate Trump said on August 8, 2016 in Detroit:

No family will have to pay the death tax. American workers have paid taxes their whole lives. It’s just plain wrong and most people agree with that. We will repeal it.”

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Strangely, another argument for the estate tax is that you can plan around it. Yet that is becoming more and more difficult. The notion that clever and wealthy people can find ways around the tax may be changing, with new administrative rules that make valuation discounts scarce and worth less. In any case, planning to avoid the estate tax is expensive and requires years of planning. Wealthy or not, the estate tax catches many people off guard after they have worked and paid income tax their whole lives.

It can force sales of family companies, and sales of family farms and ranches. Ironically, it was only recently–in 2013–that Americans finally got some certainty with a $5 million per person exemption. Indexed for inflation, it now stands at $5.45 million, $10.9 million for a married couple. And the Republicans want it repealed. Conversely, House Democrats want to raise the estate tax materially.