To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore the estate tax and repeal the carryover basis rule, to increase the estate and gift tax unified credit to an exclusion equivalent of $5,000,000, and to reduce the rate of the estate and gifts taxes to the generally applicable capital gains income tax rate.

This bill, introduced in 2003, proposed significant changes to how the federal government taxes the transfer of wealth after a person's death. It sought to set a permanent $5 million exemption for estate and gift taxes, meaning individuals could pass on up to that amount to their heirs tax-free. For estates valued above that threshold, the bill would have lowered the tax rate to match the capital gains rate—which was 15% at the time—rather than the much higher rates typically applied to large estates.

The practical impact of this legislation would have been to provide more certainty for family-owned businesses and farms by preventing the "sunset" of previous tax cuts while ensuring that only very large estates were subject to federal taxation. Additionally, it would have restored the "step-up in basis" rule, which allows heirs to value inherited assets at their current market price rather than the original purchase price, potentially reducing the capital gains taxes they would owe if they chose to sell the inherited property.