Under this week's deal the estate tax would not end (as many Republicans hoped) nor would it revert back to 55 percent (as would occur under current law). Instead estates would be taxed at a 35 percent rate, with a $5 million exemption. Wealthy Americans with estates worth more than $1 million are the big beneficiary of this move.
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Jason Reed/Reuters/file
Investor Warren Buffett testified on Capitol Hill about the estate tax in 2007.