On April 20, 2016, Representative Sander Levin – the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee – introduced legislation to restore the estate tax rate and exemption level to the same amounts as in 2009.

The proposed legislation known as The Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2016 would be a trip back to the future. We’d return to 2009 with an exemption of $3.5 million and a maximum tax rate of 45%. (Click here for a summary of the bill.)

As a reminder Congress passed “permanent” legislation in January 2013 increasing the estate tax rate from 35% to 40% with an inflation-indexed exemption for estates below $5 million. (In 2016 that’s estates valued at or below $5.45 million.)

As we wrote here The Fairness President seems to be acting quite unfairly in seeking to change permanent legislation.