Inheritance Tax-Responsible Wealth

Over the holidays I read Wealth and Our Commonwealth by William H. Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins.

Instead of making a New Year's resolution I decided to memorize two little tidbits from this book and to share them whenever the subject of the inheritance tax came up, (and sometimes when it does not come up.):

Estate tax exemptions are so high that it only impacts heirs of 2% of the population.

The United States is the most unequal society in the industrialized world.  The richest fifth of Americans earn eleven times more than the bottom fifth.

Too long to memorize, but not too long to forget the concept is this:

In December, 1906, President Roosevelt spoke out in favor of the estate tax saying "its primary propose should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of those swollen fortunes which is certainly of no benefit to this country to perpetuate."

For more on the inheritance tax, visit responsiblewealth.org

Comments

[Lola]

Please expound on "Estate tax exemptions are so high that it only impacts heirs of 2% of the population." Do the author's site a source?

I'm not an expert on estate and trust law, but does this encompass those individuls who were prudent in his or her planning, so they don't even show up on an IRS return or schedule?

Whould it be fairer to time taxation closer to the event of liqidity, not the transfer of assests to heirs? Without proactive review of Congress indexing estate values, the middle class could easily get caught paying estate taxes on IRAs and the now average home price of half a million dollars.