WASHINGTON BUREAU — The Obama administration has unveiled a deficit reduction package that could impose a $6 billion hit on corporate-owned life insurance arrangements and raise $866 billion by turning the federal estate tax clock back to 2009.

The estate tax would have a $3 million per person exemption and a 45% maximum rate, compared with the current exemption of $5 million per person and the current maximum rate of 35%.

The law that established the current estate tax rules, adopted in 2010, is set to expire in 2012 and also reunifies the gift and estate taxes. Current law also provides for "portability," a feature that eliminates the complex estate planning documentation necessary to ensure that beneficiaries of an estate get the benefits of a couple's exemption.