Republican-backed legislation to permanently repeal the estate tax has passed the House of Representatives, the Washington Post reports.

President Bush's ten-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 included a decade-long phase-out of the tax, raising the portion of an estate exempted from taxation from $675,000 in 2001 to $1.5 million in 2004. Next year, the exemption will be $2 million for individuals and $4 million for couples. Under the 2001 legislation, all the Bush tax cuts, including full repeal of the estate tax, would be rescinded in 2011. Opponents of repeal argue that only the richest Americans ever pay the tax. According to IRS data, of the 2.5 million adults in the U.S. who died in 2001, only 49,911 — or 2.1 percent — had estates large enough to be affected by the tax.

House Democrats led by Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) have proposed raising the amount not subject to the tax to $3.5 million — and $7 million for couples — enough to exempt 99.7 percent of all estates. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Pomeroy bill would cost the Treasury $72 billion over ten years, compared to $290 billion for full repeal.

"The ideological fervor that is admittedly still pretty strong in some quarters is now being tempered by the runaway debt that is weighing down this country," said Pomeroy, who added that he thinks voters are ready for a compromise.