S. 2899: Responsible Estate Tax Act

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S. 2899: Responsible Estate Tax Act

113th Congress · introduced 2014-09-18 · Taxation · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

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Official title

Responsible Estate Tax Act

Plain summary

Responsible Estate Tax Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, to: (1) revise estate tax rates to impose an increased tax for estates over $3.5 million and a maximum tax rate of 55% for estates over $50 million; (2) impose a 10% surtax on estates over $500 million; (3) reduce the basic estate tax exclusion amount from $5 million to $3.5 million; (4) increase to $3 million the reduction in valuations of farmland for estate tax purposes and adjust such increased amount for inflation after 2014; and (5) increase to $2 million the maximum estate tax exclusion for contributions of conservation easements. Requires that the value of the basis in any property acquired from a decedent or by gift be consistent with the basis as determined for estate and gift tax purposes. Requires executors of estates and donors of gifts required to file a gift tax return to disclose to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to recipients of any interest in an estate or a gift, information identifying the value of each interest received. Sets forth estate valuation rules for certain transfers of nonbusiness assets and limits estate tax discounts for certain individuals with minority interests in a business acquired from a decedent. Expands rules for valuing assets in grantor retained annuity trusts to require that: (1) the right to receive fixed amounts from an annuity last for a term of not less than 10 years and that such fixed amounts not decrease during the first 10 years of the annuity term, and (2) the remainder interest have a value greater than 10% when transferred. Sets forth rules for the application of transfer taxes to a grantor trust (a trust in which the grantor retains control over the trust assets and has the right to receive income from the trust).

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] · 0 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] reported raising $26.5 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-113s2899.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/113/s>

Record fed-us-cong113-s2899 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong113 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong113