Is this fair?

From the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:

SINCE LAST MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE, CONGRESS HAS REDUCED ESTATE TAX BURDENS NINE TIMES: If No Further Action Is Taken, Estate Tax Exemption Will Still Increase by 2009 While Value of Minimum Wage Will Continue to Fall

by Aviva Aron-Dine 

On Friday, the Senate is expected to consider legislation passed by the House that links a dramatic reduction in the estate tax with an increase in the minimum wage. In seeking to tie the fate of these two proposals together, Congressional leaders have implied that they address concerns of similar import and urgency.In reality, of course, the minimum wage increase would benefit 6.6 million workers, while the estate tax reduction would benefit 8,200 very large estates. Moreover, over the past decade, Congress has zealously protected the small number of wealthy estates subject to the estate tax, enacting legislation (in 1997 and 2001) that has reduced estate tax burdens in eight of the past nine years.

http://www.cbpp.org/8-2-06tax2.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/8-2-06tax2.pdf  2pp.

LATEST DATA ON MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS AND TAXABLE ESTATES, BY STATE

by Joel Friedman 

This analysis uses state-by-state data to highlight the dramatically different populations that would be impacted by the estate tax/minimum wage legislation. The estate tax reduction only affects the nation’s most well-off households, while the minimum wage increase would boost the earnings of 6.6 million American workers.  The tables in the report provide data that illuminate this contrast.

http://www.cbpp.org/8-2-06tax3.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/8-2-06tax3.pdf  2pp.