Estate/gift taxes are a pretty arcane subject, but one I deal with every day in my job. They're a tax on the transfer of wealth between generations. It used to be that estates were taxed if they were worth over $600,000, but thanks to the repubs only estates over $2 million are taxed now. A married couple can pass $4 million to their worthless offspring before their estates even have to file a return. And they use plenty of tricky little trust and valuation schemes to reduce the tax even further. The exempt amount goes up to $3.5 million a person in 2009, and in 2010 the whole tax is repealed. The current law scheduled to "sunset" after 2010 -- the tax will return with a $1 million exemption in 2011, but everybody expects Congress to pass something else before that happens. Of course, the Bushies want the tax eliminated permanently, but I doubt they'd even dare broach the subject before the mid-term elections. The repubs in Congress are running scared and don't want to have to vote for a "Paris Hilton tax cut" to get money out of Rove and his machine.
Their chances of permanently repealing it won't be much better after the elections. I gotta believe they'll lose control of at least one house -- I mean, how much more shit will it take before they're voted out of office? (Flashback to November 2004....but it can't happen again, can it?)
And if you think you'll end up paying estate taxes, you're deluding yourself. Do your parents have $4 million? $7 million? No? The only people who pay estate taxes are rich people who got rich because they live in this country and benefit from the work and sacrifices the rest of us make. Every dime rich people save on estate/gift taxes comes out of your pocket. They have already accumulated more millions through the estate tax cuts that are already in effect, and through the reductions in income tax on stock dividends and capital gains taxes.
The number of very rich people in the US grew last year at the fastest pace in at least a decade as their moves into international stockmarkets, real estate and alternative investments paid off.
The number of households with $5m (4m) or more in investable assets - excluding the family home - rose by 26 per cent to a record 930,000, according to a study by Spectrem Group. That is the biggest jump since Spectrem began its survey in 1996. The number of millionaires rose by 11 per cent, to a record 8.3m - the second biggest jump in the decade since they were surveyed.
Do you really think Paris Hilton needs more money? It's trust fund parasites like her that would benefit from estate tax repeal. I deal with her kind every day, and believe me they're worthless and miserable people who don't deserve to be extravagantly supported at our expense.
But tax cuts can be reversed. And taxes rates can also be raised and loopholes plugged.
TAKE IT BACK!