Modern-day Aristocrats and the Estate Tax
By Katherine Jones, Equitable Economy Advocacy Organizer
While the wealth gap is steadily increasing in our country, Republicans have recently cemented a weakened version of one of our nation’s wealth equity tools. On July 4th, President Trump signed the Republican reconciliation package into law, which included permanent changes to the estate tax, a policy meant to protect against dynastic accumulations of wealth. We have dubbed the legislative package the “Big Ugly Law” (or BUL) because it funded these changes and other egregious tax giveaways to the wealthy by cutting vital social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP nutrition benefits.
President Trump managed to attack the estate tax in two separate pieces of legislation during his administrations. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97) diminished the estate tax by temporarily doubling the exemption level, and the Big Ugly Law made the 2017 provisions permanent for wealthy families. This will allow more multimillion-dollar estates to be passed on to heirs without being subject to the tax.
This policy choice is especially immoral when looking at the financial state of everyday families. Currently, the top 10% of earners account for more than half of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom 50% only hold less than 3%. At a time when the political lens is focused on making working families’ lives more affordable, Republicans chose once again to give billionaires a gift via our nation’s tax code.
The estate tax is not a government overreach, but rather an aristocracy busting tool that specifically targets ultra-wealthy families. In our 2015 “Billionaires’ Bluff” estate tax report, we highlighted how dynasty families spent big money lobbying to try to preserve their affluence for their heirs. Given how politically unpalatable that is, estate tax opponents frequently use small businesses and family farms as shields to hide their intention to kill the estate tax.
In 2025 various farming and agriculture associations paid for lobbyists to push to weaken or kill the estate tax. However, the USDA released a 2021 report that states less than one percent of farms are subject to the estate tax. Despite no sound research to show the estate tax is a threat to farms, these organizations decided to use their influence to benefit the ultra-wealthy while 2.4 million vulnerable families have their food assistance taken away by the BUL. Instead of protecting their own interest since SNAP food benefits are used to purchase the farm grown food—these groups are going to bat for multimillionaires who want to hoard their wealth for their heirs.
We cannot allow lawmakers to continue fueling wealth inequality in our country. You can use your voice to disapprove of the recent estate tax changes by:
- Contacting the office of your U.S. Representative and Senators and hold them accountable if they supported the Big Ugly Law.
- See how your Representative and Senators voted.
- Call your Representative or Senators at 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) to express your disappointment. (Or click here and search for your Representative by state, or to click here and search for Senators by state.)
- Host an in-person or virtual Kitchen Table Talk to discuss important issues with your community.
- Write a letter to the editor (LTE) to your local paper about the Big Ugly Law.
Though Republicans continue to try to dupe Americans into thinking the estate tax is not needed, it is imperative to course correct this narrative. The billionaires have paid their way into having a seat at tables where our nation’s public policy is being debated, all to protect their generational wealth for their heirs. To go against their army of co-opted industry lobbyists and blank checkbooks, Congress must hear from YOU that they must work to implement tax policies that at the very least undo the 2017 and 2025 weakening of the tax, close loopholes and finally make dynasty families pay their equitable share.