Posted on 12/03/2009 11:51:04 AM PST by MaestroLC
The House votes 224-199 to cancel a one-year repeal of the estate tax, set to begin next month, and instead permanently extends the current tax, with a top rate of 45 percent on estates larger than $3.5 million.
re: In America, its not a sin to be rich nor is it a crime to die rich, said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo. This bill gives our nations wealthiest families the ability to know exactly what their obligation to the nation that fostered their wealth will be, and it is fair and it is just.
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Hmmm — talk about your REDISTRIBUTION of wealth!!! Their ‘obligation’ to the nation??? NO WAY IN H*LL!!!
Hey, Polis — go redistribute your OWN money!!!!!
The reality is that as a U.S. citizen you must file income tax returns even if you live in a foreign country. Some people don’t bother, but they can be subject to severe penalties if caught. Depending on where you live the tax treaty rules can be rather complicated.
And as far as estate taxes, many countries have treaties with the U.S. regarding who gets to tax the estate or portions of the estate.
It is not so easy as moving to another country - pay less tax. I have lived for several years in Europe, and I’m tired of being subjected to two very different tax systems. I expect that I pay quite a bit more in taxes as a result, even with various credits and exclusions. It is really extraordinarily complicated. I am eager to go home.
Wow, do they suck.
Unbelievable. Like a dead person owes the state. Like it wasn’t taxed on the way in. Like the nation made them wealthy rather than individual hard work and perseverance.
One of the biggest goals of communism is to prevent people from accumulating money and passing it down from generation to generation.
That creates people who are not dependent on government.
Also, they see it as a White thing - Whites earning money and saving it, while the favored constituency of the left is seen as poor, downtrodden, oppressed.
But instead of helping their constituency, it prevents them from accumulating money and passing it down from generation to generation, and becoming independent of the government.
Big goal of the communists is to make everyone dependent on government.
House votes to make current estate tax permanent
By Ben Pershing
The House approved Thursday a measure making the current estate tax rate permanent, overcoming the objections of an unusual coalition of liberal and conservative critics.
The bill passed, 225 to 200, with 26 Democrats joining all Republicans present to vote no. It would make permanent the current estate tax rate of 45 percent, with an exemption of $3.5 million per individual. If Congress does not act, the estate tax would disappear altogether in 2010, then return in 2011 under the higher rates — 55 percent and a $1 million exemption — that existed before President George W. Bush took office.
The Senate faces a Dec. 31 deadline to address the issue, but it’s not clear when that chamber will find the time to do so in the midst of its marathon health-care debate. It’s also unclear whether the House’s approach on the estate tax could garner the 60 votes necessary to move forward in the Senate.
Some Democrats in both chambers would prefer to see higher estate tax rates, arguing that the pre-2001 levels were fair and provided the government with much-needed funds. Making the current rates permanent will take a bite out of the federal treasury, with the government estimated to lose $234 billion in revenue over the next 10 years.
Most Republicans, meanwhile, don’t want any estate tax at all, opposing the concept on philosophical grounds.
“Death should not be a taxable event,” said Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.), the top Republican on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. “Death should not force the sale of family farms or the dissolution of small businesses. The fear of death should not be a reason for Americans to hire a battery of accountants and lawyers to find legal ways to reduce the bite of the estate tax.”
While Republicans often invoked the specter of distressed farmers and business owners Thursday, Democrats suggested the GOP was trying to mask their true desire to shield the wealthiest Americans from taxation.
“Abolishing the estate tax would add billions and billions to our deficit — and while a small number of wealthy families would benefit, the growth of our economy as a whole would suffer,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
The current rates leave roughly 0.2 percent of all estates subject to taxation in 2009, according to the Tax Policy Center, a think tank. Since the $3.5 million per-person exemption is not indexed for inflation, that percentage will gradually increase over time.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that he had met with House leaders to figure out a way forward on the estate tax and other end-of-session priorities. Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) are pushing a measure that would reduce the estate tax rate to 35 percent, with an exemption of $5 million per individual.
Since I plan on living in India, the IRS says as long as I make less than USD$17,900 per year, I don’t need to even file. That translates to over 800,000rupees/yr, which is a comfortable standard of living there.
How long do you think it will be before they put a tax on life insurance policies?
I actually like this.
Emocrat.
Born and raised a commie and a faggot.
Well, I’ve never been to India, and I’ve never checked out the tax treaty (or lack of treaty) regarding India. If you are serious in your plans I hope you know all the implications of what you’re proposing to do. It sounds like you’ve done some checking. I wish you well.
As for me, I’ve lived under the conditions in Europe, and as soon as I am able I’m going home.
You can have a child, say, own the policy and make gifts to the child of an amount sufficient to pay the premiums, but there are obvious drawbacks to that tactic.
I am not speechless.
EFFIN BASTIDS!!!!! ITS NOT THEIR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!
( And they wonder why Americans take their money off shore? Anyone with an estate worth 3.5 million is going to
move it to Bermuda. No estate tax there. All this does is guarantee an exodus of estate capital off shore.)
That said, this bill and all the indignation is much ado about nothing. Bush's compromise of 1-year repeal before expiry was really a donut hole "compromised bill" since other, more onerous taxes would kick in in its place:
Under current law, if someone inherits a $5 million estate in 2009, they would pay $675,000 in federal estate taxes, according to an analysis by Deloitte Tax. In 2010, they would pay no estate tax but the estate would be subject to a 15 percent capital gains tax. If they inherit the $5 million estate in 2011, they would pay $2,045,000 in estate taxes, according to the analysis. Under the House bill, they would pay $675,000 in estate taxes, regardless of which year the estate is inherited WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Thursday to permanently extend a 45 percent inheritance tax on estates larger than $3.5 million, canceling a one-year repeal of the tax set to begin next month.
If Republicans offered a bill or an amendment to repeal the estate tax without replacement taxes (i.e. passing estate tax-free due to double taxation, which would, likely, earn them the usual "protectors of the rich" rhetoric from Democrats) they would have a case. To vote "for" the status-quo Bush's phony 1-year exemption / "repeal" of estate tax is a show, just like the Democratic bill is also for show - that they "care about middle class".
If anything, this bill mildly improves on a weird and artificial 2010 estate-tax planning, but something like this should have been expected earlier than a month before expiry.
A tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
It fits with the planks of the Communist Manifesto, the elimination of inherited wealth. I investigated a combine fire today. The combine costs $287,000 new. The farmer has several tractors, buildings, and 3000 acres of land, but he was not rich in money by any measure. He said that it COST him about $500 per acre to plant his crop and I doubt that after he paid his help and equipment payments and repair that he made $25 an acre.
A jobs program when it's needed the most. /s
I wonder how much the Kennedy’s have paid in Estate Taxes.
Just made a new Will using LegalZoom.com. Very effficent and not expensive. All done in three days.
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