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$12.9 is per estate, not per heir. If someone has one spouse and 3 kids and also leaves by will some stuff to 6 other relatives, then the exemption is split bet

$12.9 is per estate, not per heir. If someone has one spouse and 3 kids and also leaves by will some stuff to 6 other relatives, then the exemption is split between the 10. Each benefits on average from an exemption of $1.3 MM. At the highest tax bracket, they get a one time tax deduction of about half a million. When people talk about wealth gap, they mean the ultra-rich, the multi-millionaires. For someone with a net worth of $20 million, a one time half-a-million does not make such a difference. If you want to get rid of the estate tax exemption, you don't hit the Bezoses and the Zuckerbergs of the world, you hit the middle class. And by the way, you don't even need to move a finger to cut that exemption in half. It will do that in 2026. If you so desire, you can write to your representative to tell them you'd be very upset if they vote for an extension of the current levels of the estate tax exemption.

MarkMarine 3y ago
People in the middle class don’t have 20 million, or 10 million.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  That they don't is all the more reason to not tax what they do have at 18-40% when they die and pass it to their heirs.
  - standardUser 3y ago
    Do you have a link to a proposal that suggests taxing inheritance for fortunes under $10 million at 40%? From what I understand, if the exemption reverts to previous levels, that would sit at about $6 million (an absurd amount of money to "middle class" families) and would only apply to the value beyond that $6 million. So even a fortune of $10 million would be taxed at well under 40%.
rayiner 3y ago
> When people talk about wealth gap, they mean the ultra-rich, the multi-millionaires. For someone with a net worth of $20 million, a one time half-a-million does not make such a difference. These people are being snookered by the upper middle class. At $12 million, the estate tax exemption excludes all but the top 1% of wealthy. There’s over a million households in that group. The top 10% own 70% of the wealth. The top 1% holds over 30%. But billionaires hold only about 3%. To meaningfully address wealth inequality, it’s not enough just to heavily tax Bill Gates. You have to heavily tax people like his father, a law firm partner. You need to heavily tax many of the folks here on HN.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  > At $12 million, the estate tax exemption excludes all but the top 1% of wealthy. There’s over a million households in that group. Far fewer than 1% of estates pay an estate tax, but rather closer to a tenth of that. It's nowhere near a million households currently subject to it. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-many-people-pay-estate-tax https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-many-peopl... You might use that fact to support the second half of your argument, of course.

MarkMarine 3y ago

People in the middle class don’t have 20 million, or 10 million.

sokoloff 3y ago
That they don't is all the more reason to not tax what they do have at 18-40% when they die and pass it to their heirs.
- standardUser 3y ago
  Do you have a link to a proposal that suggests taxing inheritance for fortunes under $10 million at 40%? From what I understand, if the exemption reverts to previous levels, that would sit at about $6 million (an absurd amount of money to "middle class" families) and would only apply to the value beyond that $6 million. So even a fortune of $10 million would be taxed at well under 40%.

rayiner 3y ago

> When people talk about wealth gap, they mean the ultra-rich, the multi-millionaires. For someone with a net worth of $20 million, a one time half-a-million does not make such a difference. These people are being snookered by the upper middle class. At $12 million, the estate tax exemption excludes all but the top 1% of wealthy. There’s over a million households in that group. The top 10% own 70% of the wealth. The top 1% holds over 30%. But billionaires hold only about 3%. To meaningfully address wealth inequality, it’s not enough just to heavily tax Bill Gates. You have to heavily tax people like his father, a law firm partner. You need to heavily tax many of the folks here on HN.

sokoloff 3y ago
> At $12 million, the estate tax exemption excludes all but the top 1% of wealthy. There’s over a million households in that group. Far fewer than 1% of estates pay an estate tax, but rather closer to a tenth of that. It's nowhere near a million households currently subject to it. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-many-people-pay-estate-tax https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-many-peopl... You might use that fact to support the second half of your argument, of course.