It has come to this: Congress, quite by accident, is incentivising death. When the Senate allowed the estate tax to lapse at the end of last year, it encouraged wealthy people near death's door to stay alive until January 1 so they could spare their heirs a 45% tax hit. Now the situation has reversed: If Congress doesn't change the law soon — and many experts think it won't — the estate tax will come roaring back in 2011.

Not only will the top rate jump to 55%, but the exemption will shrink from $3.5m (€2.8m) per individual in 2009 to just $1m in 2011, potentially affecting eight times as many taxpayers.