Leach says richest Americans should continue paying estate taxes

Congressman Jim Leach wants the nation’s richest citizens to continue paying estate taxes when they inherit wealth. Leach says there’s a case for protecting small businesses and family farms by raising to five or ten million dollars the amount of property one can inherit without paying estate taxes. But Leach opposes erasing estate taxes for what he calls a “new class of America’s super billionaires.” Leach says he believes most of the country shares that philosophy. But the U.S. House voted this week — as it did last year — to do away with the estate tax. A similar bill failed to pass the Senate last year and its future is uncertain this year.