no estate tax! its stupid... its unconstitutional... double taxation even more harsh than those funeral salespeople who try to rip you off once a loved one dies i do believe in hereditary privileges what do you guys think?
Not all countries have estate tax. Some governments keep the mechanism in place but have it set to 0%, others abolish it completely. Could it be that you are living in the wrong country for your idealogical beliefs?
We have it in the UK - it's called inheritance tax. It is currently 40% of the individual's estate over £285,000 ($560,000). It's a very, very unjust tax - the deceased has probably worked hard, earned a lot and paid a lot of taxes during their life, which is stolen from their family in their death. A bad tax indeed.
Maybe it sounds worse than I meant it to! What I mean is if someone left an estate valued at £385,000 then the rate of inheritance tax would be 40% of the £100,000 of value that is over the threshold (so £40,000 in this example). Still quite staggering! And the government call themselves socialists. Pah.
Most also allow you to gift a certain amount to a trust fund too. So we have our home and businesses in a trust. It belongs to our children but we get the benefit while we are alive. Any other funds can be "gifted" to the trust at a limited $$$ per year. That way if a government down the line chooses to increase the duty from 0% our assets are protected. If you are savvy enough to accumulate £385,000 then you should have a decent lawyer and accountant who can explain similar mechanisms available locally.
It think it's political unfeasible in America to be completely void of it...at the moment. What they should do (to please the progressive-minded), but remain economically pratical is: Raise the amount up to a number which will not effect any small business owner...which shouldn't be too significant. So when they die, it's possible to continue on with the business. A thriving economy should not have to compensate with private loans for public taxes (which is essentially the problem of it). Idealistically the tax wouldn't exist at all, but I tend to understand the idea of not allowing a dynasty of super rich people.
Nonono. That -is- socialism. Socialism is taking away money from some people and giving it to others with the justification that everyone has a right to at least some of everyone else's money and/or property.
I think it's 2 or 3 million, actually. It's pretty high. But the people who get hit with the most (on a noticeable level) are the farmers whose land values rise all the time.
oh come on, the farmers, thats just a talking point http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/23/AR2005072300741.html http://www.factcheck.org/article328.html
We're essentially just subsidizing banks, and funding big government. Two things that seem rather unappealing to me.
Everything this a talking point, Ferret. It's hard to believe that you read those and think that its a good thing. Mighty kind of the government to extend the rape period over 14 years. The estate tax is probably the most evil tax out there. It taxes that which has already been taxed before - usually on several different levels. Earlpearl and I had a long discussion about it a few months back - he supported it mainly on the Paris Hilton level. I'm not going to rehash it all again, but feel free to find the thread.