The grand estate tax battle

I've been keeping an eye on this epic struggle of this great democracy from the nosebleed seats -- or, rather, I stood in line for over three decades for a bleacher ticket but they were sold out -- or rather, I decided to buy a hot dog instead but only had two dollars rather than seven -- or rather, I tried to tune in the game on the car radio, but my car is a donkey -- or rather, I tried to pay attention but I lost my estate when I dropped a quarter in a subway grate -- or rather, I tried to watch but amoebae only have vacuoles....

The very rich and the merely rich are fighting over the fate of the estate tax.

So far, the very rich are winning.

Small-business owners -- the merely rich -- want to exempt from taxation inheritances of up to $10 million. The very rich -- people whose estates are worth tens of millions or even billions of dollars -- want instead to reduce the tax rate on assets passed on at death. A $10 million exemption isn't nearly enough for them.

To the pleasure of the very rich, the leading compromise in the Senate would drastically lower the top rate on inherited assets -- to 15 percent from 47 percent. But, to the chagrin of the merely rich, the exemption wouldn't come close to their demands.