Mark Cochran
Published: 2017
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By reinstituting a carryover basis, Congress can increase revenues by billions. The carryover basis would make tax law more fair by increasing economic efficiency by unlocking capital while maintaining rates, reinstituting a capital gains preference, or adding new taxes. Section 1023 would have provided a carryover a basis for property acquired from decedents but never took effect because the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980 repealed section 1023 retroactively and reinstituted the stepped-up basis rule of section 1014. No convincing rationale for the stepped-up death-basis rule has ever been offered; yet, one might reasonably speculate that the real objection was not section 1023's complexity, but its substance -- the repeal of part of the estate planners' stock in trade. Three developments have occurred since the repeal of section 1023 that potentially make stepped-up basis a more vulnerable target for reform. First, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 [describe what it did using verbs]. Second, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 [describe what it did using verbs]. Third and possibly the consideration that would provide the major impetus for the repeal of stepped-up basis, is the budget deficit [describe how the deficit is affected by the 1981 legislation using verbs].
