Rich paying less estate taxes

[FirstTop]

Read this.....title tells it all.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-paying-less-estate-taxes-170449205.html

 

[MyLadiesDaddy]

 Just thought I'd help out a little

Donald Trump and Hillarious Clinton have polar opposite plans for the country's estate tax: Clinton wants to hike it, and Trump wants to kill it.

Yet behind the political noise, which escalated Thursday when Clinton detailed her proposal for the tax, its contribution to revenue has diminished over the years. As a result, any changes made to the policy are likely to have a minimal impact on tax receipts.

According to the IRS, the estate tax generated $16.4 billion in 2014, the latest year available. That's down roughly a third from 2006, when collections totaled $24.6 billion.

Receipts have fallen even more dramatically when looking farther back. In 1976, nearly 8 percent of all deaths resulted in an estate tax. In 2011, the latest year analyzed, that number was only 0.13 percent.

The estate tax now accounts for less than 1 percent of federal revenue, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. That drop is surprising given the surging number of millionaires and billionaires over the past two decades, and the trillions of dollars supposedly being passed on to the next generation.

The main reason behind the decline is a higher number of exemptions. In 1976, estates had to pay a tax on a value of more than $60,000. Today, the threshold is $5.5 million for individual estates — meaning anyone who leaves their heirs less than that amount is excluded.

The top estate tax rate has also come down, from 70 percent in 1981, to 55 percent in 2000, to 40 percent today.

Another reason the estate tax is quietly dying is that the rich have become better at avoiding it. A vast array of trusts and estate-planning tools have made it easier for wealthy families to pass down assets without being subjected to the tax.

One popular tool they use is the grantor-retained annuity trust, which has helped several billionaires pass down assets free of gift or estate taxes.

"People utilize whatever legal machines they can use to move as much out of their estate as possible," said Roberton Williams, of the independent Tax Policy Center.

Trump has called for eliminating the tax.

Clinton's plan would presumably increase the revenues raised by the tax, by lifting the rate for higher brackets: She would impose a 50 percent rate on estates worth more than $10 million a person; a 55 percent rate on those over $50 million per person, and a 65 percent rate that would apply to individual estates over $500 million, or more than $1 billion for married couples.

Yet neither plan is likely to impact the wealthy or federal tax revenues, since so many of the highest payers are already working around the tax.

"At this point it's most symbolic," Williams said. "Twenty billion dollars is not chump change. But it doesn't really move the needle when it comes to the federal budget."

[sandfly]

Thanks 

[Theseus]

I find it laughable when people say the rich need to pay more taxes. The line in Hitlary's last debate about how she is going to enact, through pen and telephone mind you, the Buffet law where no rich person pays more than their secretaries. First, Hitlary should realize the use of the word "secretary" is sexist! (By her own definition by the way.) Second, Hitlary should know the rich have no income to pay income taxes. The rich pay Capital Gains tax. So this hub-bub about Buffett paying less taxes than his secretary is extremely laughable. The CG tax is what 25% now. The secretary may be in the 29% income tax bracket? If she is truly an adminstrative assistant to buffet, she is more than likely making a 6-figure salary so her tax bracket would be upwards to 39%. Funny how things work out like that when people are ill-informed. If I drive to Orlando to go to Disneyland and spend 3 hours discussing business, tax deductible vacation for moi!  It's smart to try to pay as little to no tax as possible. The clintons do this its why they setup a foundation. Everyone here I bet is going to do that. So this BS about taxes and not paying them, thats why we hire CPAs and tax accountants, so we don't have to pay more taxes than the law allows. I fault no one for doing that unless they are like the Clintons and they created a foundation to not pay taxes. But hey if they can do that so can I and not go to jail right? Wrong! 

Besides if this RV happens, very few of us won't be filing the ALT tax or will be in any other tax bracket but the upper tiers.Some conditions noted.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Theseus