From CNN Money’s Estate Tax in Limbo:
Several key senators have been trying to cut a deal for months. Negotiations have stalled on more than one occasion.
“We’re almost half a year away from a tax policy that a super majority of senators say they don’t support. Yet, we’re stuck,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said earlier this week. “This time-sensitive issue has taken a back seat to everything else.”
Anne Mathias, director of research at Concept Capital’s Washington Research Group, thinks it’s a fair bet to assume the new exemption level will fall somewhere between $3.5 million to $5 million.
But she also said if Republicans sweep the mid-term elections, and win at least 60 seats in the Senate, they may push to extend the repeal of the tax.
When Hartnett was asked what he thinks will happen with the estate tax next year, he gave the only answer he and his colleagues can give for many estate tax questions these days: “I don’t know.”
Basically, the Senate is doing the limbo dance!