DIYbanter - View Single Post - OT WSJ -- Does the estate tax hurt farmers and family businesses?

Ignoramus29073

On 2010-12-23, wrote:

In general Estate Taxes can be avoided in a number of ways. So the
Estate Tax is really more of a good deal for financial planners and
insurance agents. The question is " Should the government help
accountants? " And if so why? Million of dollars go for evading
the Estate Tax. Surely it would be better to encourage people to do
something productive with the money instead of paying for estate
planning and tax advice.

Dan, what you say is true only for medium size estates
(millions). Lots of money can be gifted (26k per year for married
couple per child and grandchild), put in life insurance, etc.

Say, 26k per year given to two children and four grandchildren, over
20 years, amounts to 26,000*6*20=3,120,000. Not bad. To add to this
cash gifts, appliances and other hanky panky, which must be declared
above 26k, but hard to prove, and a few extra mils can be passed
along.

But that is "lots" by our standards. For larger estates, as far as I
know, there is no easy or legal way to avoid estate tax.

So, essentially, small to medium sized estates can usually avoid much
of the taxation. Estate tax applies mostly to the "big guys".

You can call it the " I want everything for nothing tax " or call it "
The government wants more money tax ".

Some of the states are pretty bad about estate taxes. My brother in
law died this year. He was a Virginia citizen and owned property in
Virginia. Unfortunately he also owned a summer place in New York
State. So my sister had to pay estate tax to New York on the property
in New York. No surprise there. But she also had to pay estate tax
to New York on the property in Virginia. I call that the"New York
State wants your money tax".

I agree with you here.

i