Rich Americans want a change to the estate tax, but many believe that the richest citizens should still bear the greatest tax burden, accord...

Rich Americans want a change to the estate tax, but many believe that the richest citizens should still bear the greatest tax burden, according to a study by Prince Associates, a research firm. Three-quarters of the 483 millionaires polled wanted changes to the estate tax system, with one-quarter of the survey favoring an outright repeal of the tax. The survey showed a divergence of views between those of inherited wealth, and those who are self-made millionaires. While almost one-third of the former group felt overhauling or repealing the estate tax would make it harder for ordinary Americans to become wealthy, only 8 per cent of the self-made millionaires held the same view. Three out of four of those who inherited their wealth agreed that the taxation system should remain progressive, whilst only 43 per cent of the self-made respondents agreed with this. Views also differed between the wealthy and ultra-wealthy respondents to the survey. Of those worth between $1 million and $10 million, 93 per cent favored raising the exemption threshold at which the tax becomes payable. Meanwhile, those worth $20 million or more mostly favored a complete abolition of the tax. The results of the survey come as lawmakers continue to debate the merits of scrapping the estate tax, or amending the law so that it affects only the very wealthiest Americans. Currently, the estate tax threshold is $1.5 million, which is set to rise to $3.5 million (and $7 million for couples) in 2009 under tax cuts passed in 2001.