On Sept. 27, Donald Trump said “To protect millions of small businesses and the American farmer, we are finally ending the crushing, the horrible, the unfair estate tax, or as it is often referred to, the death tax.” Trump was right that the repeal of the estate tax is a component of the republican tax plan (and that some people call it the “death tax”), but the validity of his statement stops there.

            Repealing the estate tax would not lessen the burden, as Trump seemed to suggest, on small businesses and farmers. The tax only affects the portion of the estate that exceeds $5.49 million, or $10.98 million per married couple, effectively exempting 99.98% of Americans from paying any estate tax at all.

            Of those who would have to pay the tax, approximately one percent are small businesses or farms. The total number that would have to pay in 2017 is 80. By no stretch of the mind can the elimination of the estate tax protect “millions of small businesses” or farmers when it would only prevent 80 from paying the tax.

            Trump’s statements regarding the tax were misleading to the point of being blatant lies, which is disappointing, because there is a valid discussion that should take place about the estate tax.

            It’s possible that Trump chose to highlight the near nonexistent benefits for small businesses because it would distract from the very real benefits repealing the estate tax would provide to Trump personally. After the repeal, Trump will not have to forfeit any taxes when passing on his fortune, which is estimated to be around $3 billion.

            Another effect of the estate tax repeal that Trump did not choose to highlight is the loss of a significant source of revenue for the federal government. The estate tax currently produces enough revenue to fund the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency at the same time. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the repeal would cost $269 billion over a decade.

            The estate tax also serves to prevent the widening of the already wide wealth inequality in America. Without the estate tax, the rich would get richer and everyone else would get nothing.

            Of course there are be those who find ways to avoid paying the estate tax—after all, if you’re rich enough to pay it, you’re likely rich enough to find a way not to—but it clearly works often enough to have a significant impact on the federal revenue. Rather than dismissing it as toothless and impractical, there should be a discussion on how to revise and reform the tax. Lying about its actual effects is detrimental to progress.