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The estate tax in America has been called the voluntary tax for a reason - it's almost never paid on at the rate you quote by anyone who can do the leg work to
by DetroitThrow 5y ago
The estate tax in America has been called the voluntary tax for a reason - it's almost never paid on at the rate you quote by anyone who can do the leg work to set up legal entities which can make the effective tax rate 0% - which ends up being trivial for billionaires: https://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/bloomberg_waltons_how_billionaires_get_around_estate_tax.php https://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/bloomberg_waltons_how_bil...
Even a quick Google search yields articles describing a (very incomplete) list of loopholes one can use to make the estate tax not something one has to "worry about": https://smartasset.com/taxes/5-ways-the-rich-can-avoid-the-estate-tax https://smartasset.com/taxes/5-ways-the-rich-can-avoid-the-e...
- aetherson 5y agoPerhaps, though all of those things have downsides and limitations. But the idea here is not defending all the intricacies of the US tax code. It's simply noting that the gloss of the article that somehow it's a giant scandal that unrealized cap gains aren't taxed is dumb.
- koheripbal 5y agoWhich is why we need to curb these non-profit donations and trusts. The estate tax rate itself is fine - the issue is the exemptions.
- Supermancho 5y agoIronically, when saying it's well know that the wealthy avoid taxes", gets downvoted in another thread. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27090450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27090450