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Estate Tax posts

Obama to keep 'death tax' alive

Posted Jan 12th 2009 2:30PM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: Law, Economic Data, Financial Crisis

The so-called "death tax" refuses to die.

Despite pleading from Republicans to kill the estate tax, President-elect Barack Obama plans to do no such thing. According to the Wall Street Journal, Obama and congressional leaders "plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010."

George W. Bush has made eliminating the death tax one of the cornerstones of his economic policy before the current crisis. Critics of the tax dubbed it "the death tax" as if Uncle Sam in standing before the pearly gates of heaven with his hat in his hand. They claim it is a huge burden to small businesses. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Data from experts show that a small number -- several hundred -- small family businesses ever pay the tax. Only individuals with estates of more than $2 million and couples with more than $4 million estates are subject to the tax. Estate taxes are designed -- in theory anyway -- to prevent the U.S. from developing a European-style aristocracy based on familial wealth. That's why Warren Buffett backs the tax.

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Barron's misses the boat on estate tax

Posted Jul 2nd 2007 6:00PM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: After the Bell, Consumer Experience, Magazines, Columns, Economic Data, Politics

The recent Barron's cover story which anointed Mitt Romney and Bill Richardson as the candidates best suited for investors contained this political propaganda: "Polls show that most Americans consider estate taxes to be unjust."

That statement is misleading.

The latest Gallup poll on the topic from 2000 showed that 53% of people surveyed didn't know enough about the estate tax to have an opinion. Once the issue was explained to them, 60% said they favored eliminating it though only 17% said they would personally benefit from such a move.

Exactly how this was explained isn't clear and a recent Yale University paper argued that people's opposition to the estate tax evaporates once they learn how few people actually pay the tax and the enormous $30 billion to $40 billion hole it would leave in the federal budget if it were repealed.

Continue reading Barron's misses the boat on estate tax