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john thune
GOP Estate Tax Plan Could Mean Over $100 Billion Giveaway for Musk and Trump Heirs
"We are seeing the rise of an oligarchy... And yet here we are talking about dismantling the estate tax, the one tax at the federal level that actually slows this concentration of wealth and power," said one expert.
Mar 27, 2025
Americans for Tax Fairness has crunched the numbers and found that a Republican push to do away with the federal estate tax—a measure that's been described as an "aristocracy prevention act"—could yield billions for the families of U.S. President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, according to a report from the advocacy group published Thursday.
Abolishing the estate tax, a tax on the wealth of the richest Americans when they die, could save Musk's family up to roughly $132 billion, and could save Trump's heirs up to around $2 billion, according to ATF, which made its calculation using recent estimates of each man's net worth. The top federal estate tax rate is 40%.
The group noted that "both the Trump and Musk families have undoubtedly set up elaborate estate-tax-avoidance schemes, as most superwealthy families do. Since we do not know what tax-avoidance schemes they have undertaken, we have calculated the maximum amount that would be due if the estate tax were fully repealed."
The estate tax has long been in Republicans' crosshairs.
According to Bloomberg, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D) on Wednesday endorsed the estate tax being repealed entirely, placing the repeal of the tax at the center of current negotiations over GOP efforts to approve a multitrillion-dollar tax bill that would extend provisions in Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that primarily benefited the wealthy.
Thune was also among 45 senators who introduced a bill in February that would repeal the federal estate tax.
Trump already did wealthy Americans a favor with the passage of the TCJA, which in effect doubled the estate tax exemption amount, which as of 2025 is $14 million for individuals and twice that for married couples filing jointly. If this TCJA exemption were to expire, the exemption would drop down to $7 million per individual, meaning more millionaires would be forced to pay federal estate tax.
According to Daniel Willing, a senior wealth strategist with U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, of all the aspects of the TCJA expiration, this drop in the estate tax exemption may have the largest impact on wealthy families.
According to ATF, "If the more generous exemption amount is retained instead of being allowed to expire, the Musk and Trump families could each save up to about $5.6 million in estate taxes."
Chuck Collins, a director at the progressive organization Institute for Policy Studies, highlighted the stakes of this kind of wealth accumulation in a video from More Perfect Union about the estate tax that was released in early March.
"We are in the second Gilded Age. You know, we are seeing the rise of an oligarchy... And yet here we are talking about dismantling the estate tax, the one tax at the federal level that actually slows this concentration of wealth and power," said Collins.
In addition to focusing on the estate tax, ATF's analysis also highlights that one of the TCJA's components that's set to expire is a set of lower tax rates on "ordinary income."
Musk had an average annual taxable income of roughly $179 million between 2013 and 2018—and 99% of it was "ordinary" income, according to the report, which cites data from ProPublica.
"Assuming he had the same average taxable income in each of the first 10 years of an extension of the Trump law's lower tax rates (and this may be a conservative assumption, since he's many times richer now), Musk could save a total of around $50 million in income taxes," per ATF.
Based on Trump's available tax returns, according to ATF, Trump received on average roughly $10 million a year in wages, taxable interest, ordinary dividends, and taxable pensions and annuities, which ATF deems his "predictable" sources of ordinary income.
"Just considering those four sources of ordinary income, over the first 10 years of an extension of his lower tax rates Trump could save a total of up to roughly $2.7 million in income taxes," according to the report.
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'People Will Not Forget': Fury as Schumer Caves to Trump-Musk Destruction
"Working people are done with performative solidarity," said Rep. Delia C. Ramirez in response. "Either you stand with us against the Republican CR, or you stand with the Musk-Trump authoritarian agenda."
Mar 13, 2025
Update (7:44 pm ET):
Despite loud opposition from constituents and progressive lawmakers against such a move, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York took to the Senate floor Thursday evening to announce he would vote to advance a Republican spending bill that critics say would "sacrifice the needs of working people at the altar of the ultra-wealthy" and greenlight further chaos and destruction by President Donald Trump and his Oligarch-in-Chief Elon Musk.
"The Republican bill is a terrible option," Schumer said in his remarks. "It is deeply partisan. It doesn't address far too many of this country's needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option."
Before his address on the Senate floor, Schumer had said the Senate Democrats would hold the line against the continuing resolution which Republicans in the House passed earlier this week. A procedural cloture vote for the resolution needs 60 votes for passage, and Schumer's acquiescence will likely open the door for other Democrats to follow. If cloture passes, the Democrats give away any leverage they had as the Republicans will only need a simple majority to pass the bill.
"Chuck Schumer caving and saying he’ll vote for a blank check for Trump and Musk is demonstrative of why Democrats lose," lamented progressive activist and writer Jonathan Cohn. "Voters so often don’t believe what they say because they don’t believe what they say."
Strikingly, progressives in the House—including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Schumer's fellow New Yorker—have been the most vocal in their opposition to the bill.
"Senate Democrats should not allow this chaos to continue," Ocasio-Cortez declared in a social media post following Schumer's U-turn on the resolution. She urged constituents to keep fighting by putting pressure on their senators ahead of a vote that is now expected Friday. "Call your Senator and ask to vote NO on cloture and NO on the Republican spending bill."
"Respectfully Senator Schumer, no," replied Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). "This Republican bill is bad for workers, bad for our veterans, bad for our seniors. Republicans should pull it and let us get back to work crafting a budget that works for all of our families."
Earlier:
Reports on Thursday that Senate Democrats are considering capitulating to the GOP's disastrous government funding plan in exchange for a certain-to-fail vote on an alternative bill sparked anger among progressives, with one House Democrat warning that "people will not forget" if the minority party caves to Republicans and the Trump administration.
"Those games won't fool anyone," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote amid growing indications that Senate Democrats are preparing to help Republicans clear a key procedural hurdle in the way of their six-month funding legislation in exchange for a vote on a clean 30-day continuing resolution (CR).
"I hope Senate Democrats understand there is nothing clever about setting up a fake failed 30-day CR first to turn around and vote for cloture on the GOP spending bill," Ocasio-Cortez added. "It won't trick voters, it won't trick House members."
Sixty votes are required to invoke cloture and move to a vote on the Republican bill's final passage. The bill proposes $13 billion in cuts to non-military spending and imposes no constraints on the Trump administration or unelected billionaire Elon Musk as they eviscerate federal agencies and unlawfully withhold spending authorized by Congress.
With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expected to vote no, Republicans will need at least eight Democratic votes to invoke cloture. Final passage of the measure would only require simple-majority support.
"Do not cave. Vote no on cloture. Stand up for the American people like House Democrats did."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared in a floor speech Wednesday that "Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture" on the House-passed bill and said Democrats are "unified on a clean April 11th CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass."
Subsequent reporting and public comments from Senate Democrats soon made clear that they could still be willing to give Republicans the votes they need to pass their funding bill before the government shuts down at midnight on Friday.
CBS News states, "Senate Democrats are considering a plan that would pave the way for a GOP bill to keep the government funded for six months in exchange for a doomed-to-fail vote on their own 30-day alternative."
Politicoreported that Senate Democrats and Republicans "have made initial contact about a possible way out of the looming government shutdown." The outlet noted that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) "appeared open to allowing Democrats a chance to vote on an amendment for a 30-day stopgap as part of a larger agreement that would allow the Senate to pass" the GOP bill, which would fund the government through September.
Progressives were quick to warn Senate Democrats against adopting that plan.
"Getting a vote on a four-week clean continuing resolution is not the same as getting a clean continuing resolution," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote Thursday. "Do not cave. Vote no on cloture. Stand up for the American people like House Democrats did."
The progressive advocacy group Indivisible urged Americans to keep calling Democratic senators who are seen as possible yes votes on a Republican cloture motion.
Following Indivisible's social media post, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) announced that he would oppose the GOP measure. Kelly is also reportedly planning to oppose cloture.
🚨 We need you to call your Democratic senator ASAP if their name is on this list. Tell your senator you will have their back if they do the right thing and vote NO on the extreme MAGA spending bill that would give Trump more power to dismantle the federal government: indivisible.org/resource/cal...
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— Indivisible ( @indivisible.org) March 13, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Some Senate Democrats have been vocally agonizing over the possibility of being blamed for allowing a government shutdown, even though Republicans control both chambers of Congress and opted to advance a partisan funding bill rather than working with the minority party on a viable solution.
But in a letter to senators on Wednesday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)—the nation's largest federal workers' union—stressed that this is not a typical shutdown fight.
"AFGE's position until this year has been that although continuing resolutions are far from ideal, they are better than an
outright government shutdown," wrote Everett Kelley, the union's president. "This year is different... The Trump administration has repeatedly demonstrated over the last seven weeks that it will not spend appropriated funds as the law dictates, including funds provided under the current continuing resolution that was enacted in December with AFGE's support."
Kelley went on to reject the notion that a vote against the GOP bill is a vote in favor of a shutdown, noting that Congress still has time to pass a short-term continuing resolution and that "we only find ourselves in the current predicament because of the Republican leadership's steadfast refusal to engage in sincere bipartisan negotiations on this or any issue since December."
"With thousands of federal workers either fired, placed on administrative leave, or at immediate risk of losing their jobs, AFGE members have concluded that a widespread government shutdown has been underway since January 20 and will continue to spread whether senators vote yes or no on H.R. 1968," Kelley wrote. "Under the current CR, federal workers are being treated no better than they will be if government funding ceases Friday night."
"Only a return to the negotiating table can prevent the government-wide debacle that we see every day," he added. "A yes vote on H.R. 1968 eliminates one of the last opportunities for Congress to assert any rights under Article I of the Constitution."
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'Keep Calling': Warnings of 'Head Fake' as Schumer Claims Dem Unity Against GOP Funding Bill
One observer warned that top Democrats are "trying to fool their own supporters" about their position on the Republican Party's government funding legislation.
Mar 13, 2025
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Wednesday that Republicans don't have enough support from his caucus to advance their partisan six-month government funding legislation, which would inflict large cuts to non-military spending and bolster the Trump administration's assault on federal agencies.
But Schumer's claim of Democratic unity following tense private caucus meetings was soon called into question as some members suggested the minority party could still cut a deal with Republicans to invoke cloture on the legislation—a move that would pave the way for passage of the bill with a simple-majority vote.
"Everybody in the caucus wants an opportunity to vote for a clean 30-day [continuing resolution] that puts us on a pathway to regular, legit appropriations," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), referring to an alternative government funding bill offered by Democratic appropriators ahead of the looming Friday shutdown.
"It's not an unreasonable ask to say, if you want cloture, you'd better give us a vote," Whitehouse added.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) similarly indicated that Democrats could be willing to help Republicans invoke cloture—which requires 60 votes—in exchange for votes on Democratic amendments.
If cloture is invoked, the GOP would no longer need Democratic support to push the bill through the Senate.
"Democrats had nothing to do with this bill," Kaine told reporters following a closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday. "And we want an opportunity to get an amendment vote or two. So that's what we are insisting on to vote for cloture."
"Any Senate Dem who thinks their left flank, or anyone else in their base who is determined to stop Trump, would accept this strategy is deeply deluded."
Such remarks from Democrats led Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo to describe Schumer's floor speech as "a head fake."
"This is the Senate D caucus trying to fool their own supporters," Marshall argued. "Sorry to say that but that's what's happening."
In a blog post, Marshall wrote that "this was a deal between Schumer and [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune to allow a brief performative episode to throw Democratic voters off the scent while the Democratic caucus allowed the bill to pass."
"The deal is this: Democrats agree to give up the 60-vote threshold in exchange for being allowed to offer amendments to the House bill. The 'amendment' or 'amendments' will likely be some version of Sen. [Patty] Murray's 30-day CR. It doesn't even matter what they are. But this is all for show," he explained. "Once you give up the 60-vote threshold, the whole thing is over."
Progressive strategist Robert Cruickshank wrote late Wednesday that "any Senate Dem who thinks their left flank, or anyone else in their base who is determined to stop Trump, would accept this strategy is deeply deluded."
"This isn't even about left or right or center," Cruickshank wrote. "The divide within the Democratic Party is 'fight' versus 'surrender.'"
The new comments from Schumer and members of his caucus came amid a pressure campaign from House Democrats, grassroots organizers, advocacy groups, and the nation's largest union of federal workers urging senators to oppose the Republican funding bill, even if it means risking a government shutdown at the end of the week.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which is engaged in legal fights against the Trump administration's large-scale attack on federal agencies,
wrote to senators on Wednesday that "a widespread government shutdown has been underway since January 20 and will continue to spread whether senators vote yes or no" on the Republican funding package.
"If H.R. 1968 becomes law—a measure that ignores the administration's brazen refusal to carry out duly enacted laws of Congress and further erodes Congress' power of the purse—AFGE knows that DOGE will dramatically expand its terminations of federal workers and double down on its campaign to make federal agencies fail because there will be nothing left to stop the administration for the balance of fiscal year 2025, if ever," the union wrote.
At least one Senate Democrat who was seen earlier Wednesday as a possible vote for the GOP, Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, vowed later in the day to oppose both cloture and the Republican bill itself, a sign that public outrage could be having an impact.
"Keep calling. Keep up the pressure," Democratic strategist Matt McDermott wrote in response to the Colorado senator's opposition.
Senate Democrats are waking up: Hickenlooper said this morning he was leaning towards backing the CR. But at a town hall tonight he publicly commits to voting No — including on cloture. Keep calling. Keep up the pressure.
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— Matt McDermott ( @mattmfm.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has been urging Democratic senators to oppose the Republican bill, wrote Wednesday night that "House Democrats have stayed in D.C. to pass a 30-day clean government funding extension."
"We are here to avert a shutdown and give Republicans the time they need to negotiate a bipartisan agreement," Ocasio-Cortez added. "I'm here in D.C. ready to vote on a clean CR, and so is everyone else. Let's do it."
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