Posted on 11/17/2012 3:16:39 PM PST by george76
the estate tax -- also known as the "death tax."... set to soar at the beginning of 2013
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The estate tax dates back to 1916 when then-President Woodrow Wilson imposed the tax of 1 to 10 percent on the wealthy because World War I reduced federal government revenues. Under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the tax rose to 77 percent, as Congress tried to prevent wealth from becoming concentrated among a few powerful and super-rich families.
Ironically, many nations historically more concerned with class and wealth -- namely Russia and China -- have since abandoned their estate taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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.
any large land holder or estae holder that doesnt have their assets in trust is plain dumb.
This is why farms and ranches are now run by “corporations”.
The corporate structure solves a LOT of problems when it comes to transferring assets from one generation to the next, or between family members. The assets are all held in “trust”, and the transfers may be as little or as much as needed to avoid triggering a big “death tax” assessment.
A million dollars spread over ten years is $100,000 per year, which if extended as a gift, still cimes as less of a bite than having to sell all the assets to make one lump sum payment to the IRS.
But it is still a denial of “pursuit of happiness”.
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The government is your only heir, peasant.
And so, the ‘government’ gets ever larger chunks of property.
In my recent experience, a trust doesn’t really help avoid taxes, but it does speed things up by keeping you out of probate court.
They're not necessarily "dumb." The Kennedys know enough to protect their assets but Joe Farmer shouldn't have to spend a fortune on accountants and lawyers to preserve the assets they've managed to accumulate through a lifetime of hard work.
They may be innocent, but dumb is too strong a term.
Joe Farmer shouldn’t have to spend a fortune on accountants and lawyers to preserve the assets they’ve managed to accumulate through a lifetime of hard work.
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Have a friend with family land, he is land rich and cash poor. In assets he is one of the wealthies men in town. Of couse his land was put into farm land and tree growth so he cannot sell any of it without incurring a huge loss. He had to pput the land into a special trust in order to passs it on to his kids. Eventully someone in his line will deed it to the state. That is one of the ways that the govenment is scooping up land. Locking it up and making it expensive to pay taxes on.
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?
Ah, give Ted a break, he's been sober for three years now.
“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.
What were you citing in your quotation marks? Another article or source? Thanks in advance..
Most Americans don't seem to understand that the secret ingredient of capitalism is capital. And land [farms] is capital.
Australia and Europe do understand that. They can get away with confiscatory income taxes [not that I approve of high income tax rates] because they don't tax capital like we do. Citizens are encouraged to increase their wealth and reduce their consumption.
Capital accumulation is what leads to more employment and higher wages.
That's become a foreign concept in America.
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