If the American dream is to survive, this year's lapse in the federal estate tax must be made permanent.

Enacted in 1916, the tax is on a one-year hiatus in 2010. That's why the estate of Texas natural-gas tycoon Dan L. Duncan -- the richest person in Houston when he died in late March at age 77 -- might be the first built by an American billionaire to avoid the tax, according to The New York Times.

But all Americans, not just billionaires, and their heirs should be freed from this horrid tax forever -- not just until Jan. 1, 2011. It's insidious and an ill-advised disincentive for those who would work hard to become wealthy and whose wealth already serves the public richly.

Income taxed when it's earned shouldn't be taxed again when it's passed to heirs -- yet this tax does, unfairly. Its core flaw, however, is one that its pointedly apt "death tax" nickname hints at: Death should not be a taxable event -- period .

Government has no right to plunder anyone's estate. When it does, it engenders a "why bother" attitude toward accumulating wealth. Thus, the "death tax" discourages pursuit of the American dream -- and thereby impoverishes America.

Instead of tweaking the "death tax" in advance of its scheduled 2011 resumption, the Senate Finance Committee should ensure its death.

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