Protect The Estate Tax

When the 2010 budget was moving through Congress, conservatives, while refusing to support the budget out of a misguided sense of "fiscal responsibility", inserted an amendment into the budget that would cut the estate tax for the richest 5,854 multimillionaire families in America, while costing the government over $300 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years. Just when it looked like this wildly irresponsible and regressive measure was going to find safe harbor in the budget, we responded by asking progressives to make their voices heard.

Progressives pushed back, sending over 10,000 emails to their members of Congress to show that this outrageous tax break for the rich wasn't going to slip in under the radar at a time when millions of working Americans are fighting to get by. When the final version of the budget came out of conference committee with the estate tax cut stripped out, we had plenty of reason to celebrate--not only will that money now be available to invest in America's future, but we can also feel good knowing that progressive grassroots oversight made it happen.