Faced with eye-popping plummets in revenues, states are scrambling to plug budget shortfalls.

• 43 states anticipate budget deficits this year. At least 10 may lay off state employees.



• 17 states have or will trim education spending, 25 will slash money to prisons, 22 will cut Medicaid.

Budget cutting is a bitter pill that lawmakers avoid, especially in an election year. Now the feds must beat a June 28 deadline for coughing up a $67 billion interest payment to Social Security and other trust funds - or risk defaulting the national debt. Congress will likely dodge a default by raising the debt ceiling.

The fiscal fallout is based on a recession-driven revenue drop. Compounding the crisis are a decade of slipping state sales taxes, voter-pleasing state tax relief and the Bush tax cut. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam is shifting more expenses to the states. That means poorer health care and education and fewer public services.

Congress will vote on permanent repeal of the estate tax by the end of June. Last summer legislators passed an estate tax phase-out by 2010, with re-instatement in 2011. Repeal opponents ask why we should eliminate a major source of federal revenue just when it's clear that we can't make ends meet.

• The tax raises $30 billion a year - one-tenth of the federal non-military discretionary budget.
  
  
• If repealed, a stunning $1.5 trillion in federal revenues would be lost over the next 20 years.
  
  
• 98% of America is unaffected by the estate tax. Half of all estate taxes are paid by the wealthiest 0.1%.
  
  
• Only 6 in 10,000 family owned farms or businesses pay the tax, comprising below 1% of estate taxes.
  
  
• Eliminating the estate tax would reduce charitable giving by $6 to 7 billion a year, devastating the nonprofit sector - hospitals, universities, and public functions not adequately supported by government.

Will elimination of the estate tax simply bring more middle-class tax hikes down the road? Who profits from estate tax repeal? More taxes - or fair taxes? Is raising the debt ceiling tantamount to rewarding a chronic debtor with a new credit card? How can we curb the debt-spend spiral?