Senator Jim Bunning Says George Steinbrenner Was Wise To Die In 2010 To Avoid Estate Taxes. Is Jim Bunning Next?

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., offered an unusual take on George Steinbrenner's death on Tuesday.

Bunning, a National Baseball Hall of Famer, said at a Senate hearing that the New York Yankees owner wisely avoided estate tax liability by dying in 2010, according to The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress.

“Because he was smart enough to die in 2010, there is zero tax liability on the estate tax,” Bunning was quoted as saying.

The Kentuckian made the comment during a Wednesday meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, which was examining President George W. Bush's tax cuts. One of those cuts included elimination of the estate tax in 2010.

Bunning, who was an investment broker after baseball but before going into politics, did some calculations on Steinbrenner’s liabilities.

“If he had died in 2009, or 2011, there would have been a $500 million tax liability to his estate in 2009, and in 2011 — under the proposal that we have — there would have been a $600 million liability,” he said.