Estate planning, along with ‘trusts’ have basically protected the rich. You can go and look at Steve Jobs at Apple...and the massive fortune that he had. I’m pretty sure a trust exists in his case.
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The government is your only heir, peasant.
And so, the ‘government’ gets ever larger chunks of property.
There is a big difference between ‘liquid assets’ like stocks or cash and physical assets like land. Selling land is not like selling stock. Surveys and finding a buyer require time!
Most businesses are already in a trust, but not so for land owners. There should be a zero estate tax on land that is not tied to a business. Tax business buildings, but not the land. Otherwise, the heirs will have to sell the land just to pay the taxes....very unfair.
Combined with “death panels” the phrase we’re from the government to help you takes on new dimensions ... to help you out of life and to help themselves to your stuff!
What tax could be less equitable than the death tax?
What tax could be more despotic?
The men in government just decide, arbitrarily, that they are going to confiscate private property.
By what right? Have we given them the authority to tax us as much as they want on any matter they choose?
“The current estate tax is set to expire at the end of 2012. Above and beyond the annual exclusion gift limit of $13,000, the federal applicable exemption amount for transfers during life (gifts) and death (estates) has increased to $5,120,000 per person for 2012 the highest it has ever been since the establishment of the estate tax. Wealthy individuals who have both the means and desire to do so, should plan on making these gifts during 2012.”
Anyone wishing to do this before the chance is gone should begin right away, as it takes some time to do in many cases.
My family just took advantage of this last week, transfering their land and company to 3 of us ‘kids’. Fortunately, much of the groundwork had already been done when they had their wills drawn up a few years ago.
I hope I am able to pass it to my children someday. I worry about what our government might do to those who have farms and ranches.
Many farmers and ranchers here are “land rich” and monetarialy poor. The average family farm cretes about $36,000 in income. When the estate taxes are so high, the only recourse the inheritors have is to split and sell the property to pay the taxes. This leads to fewer family production farms and more retiree “hobby farms.”
The alternative is selling the development rights in a perpetual conservation easement to a land trust. Often this eventually renders the farm non-viable because of onerous conditions/restrictions placed upon it. It also takes away the ability of local government and future generations to use the property appropriatiately for that era. (For instance, in the gold rush, many of our current farmers fields were thriving towns. Restrictions could restrict the development of important of energy resources made available through new technology - such as lower temperature geothermal.)
This recision of the estate tax is ultimatley bad for society and for the environment.
Typical progressivist lie. The super rich have tax exempt foundations to hold their property. This law was aimed squarely at Republican small landowners and small business. The winners were real estate speculators, developers, and big business, both then and now.