The outdated death tax (Federal Estate Tax) has been found to destroy roughly 1.5 million jobs. It impacts thousands of family business owners, and costs America’s economy billions in valuable capital. Following a one-year repeal, the tax is scheduled to return on January 1, 2011 with a top marginal rate of 55 percent (with an additional 5% surtax for certain estates) on all assets above a $1 million exemption amount.
The Death Tax:
•Destroys Jobs and Economic Growth
•Ruins Family Business Owners and Farmers
•Redistributes Private Property
•Handicaps America
•Punishes Those Who Save and Invest
•Impedes Upward Mobility
•Is Double Taxation
The following website provides additional detail and citations to sources of information:
FOLKS, did you know that if the DEATH tax is allowed to sunset, we phaserevert to the $1 million exemption and the 55% (federal) rate; this means that the GOVERNMENT will inherit almost more than your family?
This does NOT include those states that get their own piece of the pie!
If you have an estate that is worth $2million and had no estate tax strategy in place and made no Gifting transfers prior to your demise, guess what your beloved Uncle Sam gets?
$550,000 Federal Estate Tax (assuming no state tax)
This does not factor in any Capital Gains taxes paid on the assets that HAD to be sold to offset multiple family members.
If the $2million in assets comprised a business ranch worth $1.5 million that had a capital gain of $1million, the taxes look like this:
Capital Gains taxes (39.6%)
$396,000 (assuming no state tax)
So, we now have:
Federal Estate tax - $550,000
Capital Gains tax - $396,000
TOTAL TAX $946,000
If you have 4 siblings or other relatives it looks like this:
Uncle Sam $946,000
Each sibling $263,500
Everybody has an Uncle Sam. Why does he get more?
It gets worse if you owned an IRA or other traditional retirement account!
so do you think there is any chance the issue will be addressed prior to 2011?
if not changed, is this incentive to gift rather than pay uncle sam after death?
bumper sticker - honk if you will pay my mortgage
"The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." attributed to Margaret Thatcher
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson
