Nevada loses school funding

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada, a Democrat, is sponsoring legislation to further reduce the federal estate tax. The bill has two cosponsors, Republicans Devin Nunes of California and Kevin Brady of Texas.

Berkley’s measure would cut the estate tax rate by gradually increasing the current exemption from $3.5 million to $5 million by 2019 and indexing the exemption for inflation in future years.

Nevada voters in 1986 approved a ballot measure earmarking the state’s share of the federal estate tax for Nevada schools. In recent years, as Congress has chipped away at the tax, Nevada’s share has shrunk steadily. In 2007, it came to $379,328.13.