The following editorial appeared Thursday in the Washington Post.

Like the ghoul in the horror movie that refuses to die, estate tax repeal has returned from the grave to stalk the halls of Congress. Just two weeks after abolitionists failed in the Senate, they have regrouped behind a new bill that would achieve most of what they want – not quite the elimination of the tax but its “reform” into insignificance. Like full repeal, this reform would expand the budget deficit and exacerbate inequality. Unlike full repeal, it would inject more instability into the tax code, violating the principles of economic efficiency that tax cutters claim to believe in.

The new bill would increase the size of estates on which no tax is due from the current allowance of $4 million per couple to $10 million per couple. This means that the tax, which now affects only the largest 0.5 percent of estates, would affect only the largest 0.15 percent. Moreover, the tax rate on estates over the allowance would fall from today’s 46 percent.

But how much it would fall is unclear. The new rate would be linked to the capital gains tax rate, which now stands at 15 percent, is due to rise to 20 percent in 2010 and is certain to be the subject of congressional battles over the next three years. So if the bill passes, families aren’t going to know what tax rates to expect. Tax reform is supposed to make the future tax burden clear and predictable, not murky.

The bill has been introduced in the House, where the Republican majority is expected to approve it as soon as Thursday. It will then proceed to the Senate, where abolitionists had 57 votes for repeal earlier this month – three short of what they need to cut off a filibuster. To succeed this time around, the abolitionists have included unrelated tax breaks for timber interests as a bribe for the two wavering Democratic senators from Washington state, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. They have also made their measure appear less costly than it probably would be. Because existing law lays down that the capital gains tax rate will rise in 2010, the official cost estimates assume that the estate tax rises then, too. But if Republicans get their way, the increase in the capital gains rate won’t happen.

The nation faces the expensive retirement of the baby boomers. It is grappling with rising inequality. Its prized social mobility may ultimately be threatened if the richest members of society are allowed to pass unlimited riches to their children. Given these circumstances, the zeal of the Republican leadership for eviscerating the estate tax is mystifying. We trust that the two Washington state senators, along with other wavering Democrats such as Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, won’t be the enablers of this error.