5 ms·

This sounds like the same reason we have a death tax. Those that can’t afford to setup the right paperwork are essentially screwed and have to pay their fair sh

This sounds like the same reason we have a death tax. Those that can’t afford to setup the right paperwork are essentially screwed and have to pay their fair share. Meanwhile those with teams of lawyers have the ability to skirt paying their fair share. Great.

xxpor 6y ago
Inheritance taxes don't kick in until $11.5 million.
- chrisweekly 6y ago
  Where did you get that number? As the executor of my father's estate, I can attest to paying taxes based on a much lower threshold.
  - Godel_unicode 6y ago
    Gp is talking about at the federal level, where that is indeed the number. You probably had to pay state taxes, those have much lower limits in some states.
  - sroussey 6y ago
    It doubled a couple years ago, which was temporary, so will halve in a few years time. That will catch people unaware.
    - nullc 6y ago
      2020/2021 are good years to die, tax wise. Covid19 is doing the taxpayers a solid. :-/
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  My state taxes inherited out of state real property at an absurd rate (I wanna say 20%, might be 15, in any case, that's a big chunk of change). In practice it's just a big f you to anyone who's parents live out of state and die owning their home and didn't have the foresight to put it in trust or sign it over to the kid(s) prior to dying. There is no justifiable purpose for this tax other than revenue. Property out of state has zero cost to the people of the state. It's a pure money grab and it's only affecting the middle class (because anyone who can justify the cost of estate planning will not be subject to this tax). Edit: I'd be curious to see why people find this comment so disagreeable? Or is it just ideologically inconvenient to point this stuff out?
  - Ancapistani 6y ago
    > There is no justifiable purpose for this tax other than revenue. Isn’t this the alleged purpose for all taxes?
Broken_Hippo 6y ago
In general, if you can't afford a lawyer to set up paperwork, you won't have enough to trigger the tax, though. The outrage about the inheritance tax is generally misplaced. And to be fair, that last bit is simply the US tax system: If you can lawyers and accountants, you might not pay much tax. Unfortunately, change requires congressional action and folks working together.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  > In general, if you can't afford a lawyer to set up paperwork, you won't have enough to trigger the tax, though. The outrage about the inheritance tax is generally misplaced. The outrage is that it's a trap for the unwary. Billionaires don't pay it but family businesses who didn't realize they had assets in excess of the threshold do, or people who die young before doing the preparation. If you can avoid it just by hiring an accountant then it shouldn't exist.
ouid 6y ago
Isn't the lower limit on an estate that is subect to estate taxes pretty high? (State rules may differ, but if you're talking about "the death tax", you're probably speaking nationally) Dying is actually subsidized for people with less than that who have unrealized capital gains, unless I understand the system wrong.

xxpor 6y ago

Inheritance taxes don't kick in until $11.5 million.

chrisweekly 6y ago
Where did you get that number? As the executor of my father's estate, I can attest to paying taxes based on a much lower threshold.
- Godel_unicode 6y ago
  Gp is talking about at the federal level, where that is indeed the number. You probably had to pay state taxes, those have much lower limits in some states.
- sroussey 6y ago
  It doubled a couple years ago, which was temporary, so will halve in a few years time. That will catch people unaware.
  - nullc 6y ago
    2020/2021 are good years to die, tax wise. Covid19 is doing the taxpayers a solid. :-/
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
My state taxes inherited out of state real property at an absurd rate (I wanna say 20%, might be 15, in any case, that's a big chunk of change). In practice it's just a big f you to anyone who's parents live out of state and die owning their home and didn't have the foresight to put it in trust or sign it over to the kid(s) prior to dying. There is no justifiable purpose for this tax other than revenue. Property out of state has zero cost to the people of the state. It's a pure money grab and it's only affecting the middle class (because anyone who can justify the cost of estate planning will not be subject to this tax). Edit: I'd be curious to see why people find this comment so disagreeable? Or is it just ideologically inconvenient to point this stuff out?
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  > There is no justifiable purpose for this tax other than revenue. Isn’t this the alleged purpose for all taxes?

Broken_Hippo 6y ago

In general, if you can't afford a lawyer to set up paperwork, you won't have enough to trigger the tax, though. The outrage about the inheritance tax is generally misplaced. And to be fair, that last bit is simply the US tax system: If you can lawyers and accountants, you might not pay much tax. Unfortunately, change requires congressional action and folks working together.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
> In general, if you can't afford a lawyer to set up paperwork, you won't have enough to trigger the tax, though. The outrage about the inheritance tax is generally misplaced. The outrage is that it's a trap for the unwary. Billionaires don't pay it but family businesses who didn't realize they had assets in excess of the threshold do, or people who die young before doing the preparation. If you can avoid it just by hiring an accountant then it shouldn't exist.

ouid 6y ago

Isn't the lower limit on an estate that is subect to estate taxes pretty high? (State rules may differ, but if you're talking about "the death tax", you're probably speaking nationally) Dying is actually subsidized for people with less than that who have unrealized capital gains, unless I understand the system wrong.