Connecticut Welcomes Back the Estate Tax!

Yup, the dreaded estate tax (which some rather alarmist folks have long preferred to call the death tax) is making a comeback in Connecticut, the New York Times reports . Though Republican lawmakers voted against the measure in large numbers, the paper said that Republican Gov. Jodi Rell supported the measure because she preferred it to the alternative: a millionaire's tax.

As writer Amy Feldman reports in the June issue of Inc. (which will be available on Inc.com presently), the trend towards states adding estate taxes even as the federal estate tax faces repeal is called decoupling. And it is a trend that is gaining steam. Connecticut now becomes the 19th state to decouple its estate tax.

As a reader service, here is the list of the other decoupled states as of June: Washington state, Oregon, Kansas, Nebrasksa, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. The District of Columbia is also decoupled.

Note please that many of the states that have decoupled are supposedly anti-tax red states like Oklahoma and North Carolina and Ohio.

Let me end with a question: what's worse, in your opinion, a millionaire's tax or an estate tax? Does your state have one or the other? And if so, what do you expect to pay?

Mike Hofman

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman