franchise blade that is such a silly democrat way of saying your point....we should share our piece of the pie. I don't recall my dad working 70 hour weeks to one day die and leave it to our government to overpay more police officers overtime or whatever wasteful thing the government is going to blow it on...he works hard for himself,his wife, and his only son. He pays into his life insurance monthly so I AM TAKEN CARE of, not anyone else....this massive 55% tax is nothing more than a slap in the face to years of hard work and an attempt by people like democrats taking something that isn't theirs.....your saying its not mine right? Well why is it the governments? BC you think $500K is alot? It might be, but that's irrelevant, when people work and earn something, THEY and only THEY should decide who it goes to, that money has been taxed previously, now we're double taxing and telling the people where the money goes....what a joke and there is no way you can say anything about that.
and again, that's the socialist american speaking, " it's a bonus that child gets which very few children will receieve".Are you kidding, so we should all be EQUAL then. What is going on with this country, some people are more succesful than others either through luck,hard work, or many other factors, whatever that may be. The money they are inheriting is PREVIOUSLY TAXED!!!!! That is as unamerican is it gets taxing that money again at such a high clip. Double Taxation is not a principle this country was built on.
No when people work and earn money, and then spend that money on something, they pay a sales tax, if they spend it on gasoline they pay taxes for that, if they spend it on cigarettes or alcohol they pay a sin tax, if the money they worked hard for is spent on hotels there is a tax on that as well. If they spend it on airline tickets there is a tax for that. The way the system is, any transaction the person who worked and earned the money makes owes some to the govt. They do not have the final say on money they've worked and earned if they are going to use it. There are plenty of legal ways to lessen the amount of taxes they'll have to pay. Gaining a lump sum of 500,000 isn't really something to complain about. I understand that more would be nice, but getting that money is a huge advantage most people will not have.
That's the problem Franchise blade, we're not talking a lump sum of cash always. Businesses,properties, and other assets are inherited which will in turn have to be sold to pay back debt obligations. Imagine inheriting let's say $6M from your dad. Wow sounds like a fortune. A sandwich shop,the land its on, your childhood home,a few small investment properties, and $500K in cash.....yes most wealthy people in the $1M-$10M range are very cash poor that's a fact, $500K would be rare. Now you have the first $1M is tax free I believe $1M untaxed,$5M in assets taxed at 55%...a $2.75M tax bill on assets you inherited and $500k in cash to pay it back with....so you are now forced into either taking out giant loans or selling your childhood home,the sandwich shop your dad leaves you and then dealing with all that hassle just to give it away
As others have said, if the inheritor is over 18 years of age, they can be made a partner in the business prior to death, and it won't be as if they are inheriting all of that stuff, just like the business lost a partner. Even if they had to sell some of it in order to pay the taxes then they still have the rest, or if they sold all of it, then they still end up with a huge cash sum once it's sold.
If your dad and brother have $10M networth but a 2% tax annually would cause a lot of problems, then there's some improvements possible with return on equity. I would refinance a couple of the business and expand, invest, or just spend. Turn that equity into debt my friend I'm not disagreeing with you that those making $1m-$10m are cash poor. Like I've said, the estate tax threshold going to $1m is the one thing that I'm pretty impartial to anyways, since it matters so little anyways it's not going to help bring in too much revenue and the $10M seems like a good threshold too.
So many old tropes trotted out here, double taxation, family farms, SOCIALISM! and etc... Some people are acting like the estate tax is 100% on everyone. As repeatedly noted it only effects a very small percentage of people and it is one of the easiest taxes to avoid with a little forethought.
So this is what happens when Apu goes on a power trip. If your dad is so proud of the money he made working in a Kwik E Mart 70 hours a week over the corporate earners, he can go back to Pakistan or India and see how his "hard work" pays off there. Sounds like you're bitter because he didn't have the savvy to invest his money at the right time in the right places. There's a reason taxes are much lower on invested money. Considering all the time you spend bemoaning corporate loopholes, I'm pretty sure you can find some loopholes of your own on the estate tax. And I am definitely not an advocate for socialism or a democrat.
