Re: No More Estate Taxes?

From: Jeff Salisbury <jeff.salisbury@xmission.com>
Subject: Re: No More Estate Taxes?
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 06:52:08 -0700

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Nancy Slator wrote:
> 
> > From: Jeff Salisbury <jeff.salisbury@xmission.com>
> >
> > The bottom line is this--if you have an estate over $650,000, then you
> > need to be concerned about estate taxes.
> 
> I think estate taxes are the fairest tax of all.  They don't take any
> money away from people who earned it and they don't take money away from
> people who need it.  If my parents had a net worth over $650,000, I would
> have gone to boarding school and an Ivy League college, and then I could
> have been given the seed money to start my own business.  I wouldn't be
> saddled with college loans and I'd probably be well on my way to having my
> house paid for.  And I would have all these benefits without having lifted
> a finger -- just by the good luck of having been born into affluence.
> 
> After I take all that to the bank, if the government gets between me and
> the fortune my parents worked hard for, I don't have much to complain
> about.
> 
> -- Nancy Slator, neslator@amherst.edu

I have heard some people advocate doing away with all taxes except for a
100% estate tax.  Personally I do not.  However, consider these reasons
for eliminating the current estate tax:

1. Estate and gift tax revenues raise less than 1% of each year's total
federal tax revenues.

2. Estate and gift taxes are an obstacle to the continuity of family
businesses and farms.  These taxes force the sale of the business or
farm upon the death of the first generation just so the 2nd generation
can pay the estate tax.

3. Almost 90% of the estate tax returns are filed by estates of $2.5
million or less.

4. About 65 cents of each dollar of estate and gift tax collected is
used for compliance and enforcement activities.

Of these points, I find #2 and #4 to be the most compelling.

Regards,

Jeff

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