Death and taxes...and taxes and taxes

You're taxed when you earn it, taxed when you spend it, taxed when you invest it and then, if there's some left when you die, it gets taxed again. The estate tax is regarded as the most unfair of all taxes by many and it's slated to be phased out in 2010. But unless Congress acts, it comes right back to life in 2011. (Anyone who can explain what Congress was thinking when they wrote this legislation gets a gold star!)

Now this:

A new survey shows that 57% of Americans wanted to keep the estate tax - often dubbed the "death tax" - as is rather than reform it.

Just 23% said they favored repealing the tax.

The telephone survey of 910 registered voters was conducted by Washington-based research firm Penn Schoen & Berland Associates Inc. in February and released this month, just as the issue is expected to move to the forefront politically. The Senate is slated to debate next month whether reform is needed on the estate tax.

A lot of folks have the impression that the estate tax only impacts wealthy taxpayers, but unless there is meaningful reform, millions of pretty ordinary Americans will be in for a very expensive surprise.