It’s like Michael in “Halloween.” I’m never sure if it is still alive, dead, or in limbo. Mr. Falk assures me it’s alive. Again. He wants it dead. Again. I’ll try to explain.

Prior to 1982, and currently, the federal government taxed the estates of the deceased. Also then, Washington State assessed an inheritance tax and a gift tax.

Mr. Falk, a Seattle police officer now retired, discussed with friends how unfair the gift and inheritance taxes were and they decided to abolish both by initiative. In 1981, voters agreed with him by 67 percent in favor of I-402 and on Jan. 1, 1982, they were gone.

The initiative, however, did leave in place a “pick-up” tax, that is, a percentage of what the feds collected came back to the state.

The Department of Revenue got greedy, said Mr. Falk, and after the federal phase-out, collected an estate tax in excess of the IRS pick-up tax. They also, he said, intimidated taxpayers to file returns even though I-402 stated if the locals didn’t have to file a federal return, they didn’t have to file with the state either.

I don’t know who took Revenue to court but in February, 2005, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously the Department of Revenue had no authority to assess an estate tax in excess of the federal credit and taxpayers were due for a refund. The estate tax was dead.

Not for long. In May, the Legislature passed a new estate tax that calls for taxing everything over the first $2 million. Estates are taxed from 10 to 19 percent depending on their size. Family farms, timberlands and woodlots are exempt. Other businesses, even though family-owned, are not — and are expected to be the chief payers.

Mr. Falk says Revenue is beefing up its staff to go after everything they can to get over the threshold. That they once even had widow’s wedding rings appraised. His main pitch is that it’s unfair to tax death.

Mike Gowrylow of Revenue says, however, that they are not beefing up the staff, don’t appraise and they can’t make an estate larger than it is. While $2 million is the threshold and all assets are included, deductions are allowed for liabilities, such as mortgages, bills, burial expenses, attorney fees, etc.

Revenue estimates that only 210 estates will be affected this year, which is about one half of one percent of all deaths in Washington, and the annual revenue is about $100 million.

I asked Mr. Falk how he plans to persuade people to vote for I-920 when most of them probably believe the rich should be paying. The trouble is, they will not, he says.

Let’s take, for example, Bill Gates Jr., the richest man in the world, followed by Warren Buffett, the second richest man. Neither, according to an opinion from Sirote & Permutt of Birmingham, Ala, is likely to pay a dime of estate tax because they have their money tied up in private charitable foundations.

Now, what’s the federal picture? In 2001, Congress passed a law phasing out the tax by 2010. Without further action by Congress, however, in 2011 we just revert back to the law the way it was in 2001. Washington’s new tax will not be affected since it is not tied to either the old or new laws. Three times the U.S. House voted to abolish the federal estate tax but it languishes in the Senate.

I-920 will get considerable airing before the deadline for signatures July 7, I’m sure.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.).