This is an excerpt from an op-ed that originally published in CNN. Read the full op-ed here.

The federal estate tax should be an effective tool to slightly level the playing field between those who inherit wealth and those who have to work for a living. It should also ensure that family dynasties who’ve amassed enormous fortunes pay their fair share in taxes.

But because policymakers have repeatedly doubled and tripled the immense sums that can be passed on before the tax kicks in, the estate tax today affects almost no one.

The estate tax exemption—the value of an estate that a mega-millionaire can own before facing taxes—has grown so much over the past quarter century that just eight of every 10,000 people who died in 2019 left behind an estate that was large enough to be subject to the tax, currently at 40%.

Read the full op-ed here.