Now we have the opportunity to put the tax to rest for good. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist recently announced that the Senate will vote on repeal of the tax in May. (The House has already voted for repeal.)

The death tax is unfair because the government has already taxed all savings when it was first earned as income, and then has taxed the return to that savings all of the worker's life. Taxing lifetime savings again at death is just a harsh double, or even triple, tax.

Moreover, the tax often means that the family business or farm has to be sold at death to pay the tax bill, and cannot be passed on to children or other family members. Indeed, the death tax is the leading factor in destruction of the family farm, and the top cause of losing farm land to development.

Reducing this extra layer of taxation would increase savings, investment, jobs, wages and overall economic growth. A recent paper by economist Dan Clifton of the American Shareholders Association reviews the numerous economic studies documenting this obvious result.

Moreover, repeal of the death tax would boost both fairness and the economy at little or no cost in lost revenue. The tax raises only about 1 percent of federal revenues, or just around $25 billion a year.

Much of even this small loss would be offset, however, by increased revenues from other taxes due to improved economic growth. Small businesses would also no longer have to bear the losses that result from taking steps to minimize death taxes, which would also boost other tax revenues. Such factors are likely to leave no significant net loss of revenue from repeal of the tax. Indeed, a recent study of these effects from Carnegie Mellon University concludes that death-tax repeal would actually increase total federal tax revenues.

Some in the Senate are arguing for a compromise that would apply the death tax only to the wealthiest taxpayers. But every tax starts out that way - but eventually winds up applying to the middle class, because that's where the big revenues can be generated.

A majority of the Senate favors total death-tax repeal. But Democrats locked in the socialist mindset of the 19th century will mount a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to break.

The most recent count of votes by the Senate Whip's office shows that 52 senators are strongly committed to vote for repeal. Three more (Virginia's John Warner of Virginia, plus Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor) are considered leaning toward "aye."

Six more senators are deemed toss-ups: Republicans John McCain (Ariz.), George Voinovich (Ohio) and Olympia Snowe (Maine), and Democrats Evan Bayh (Ind.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Max Baucus (Mont.).

Senators leaning "nay" but persaudable include Republican Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) and Democrats Ken Salazar (Colo.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Barack Obama (Ill.)., Diane Feinstein (Calif.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.)