The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[10nisman]

her plan lowers the exemption and increases the rate. My father was a lawyer who did trust/estate law and one of my brothers is a lawyer (although not estate/trust). The fact of the matter is that her plan DOES affect businesses and families who are NOT extremely wealthy. There is a large section of the country - which obviously doesnt vote for democrats (with the exception of Iowa for some strange reason) who own family businesses - called farms - many of which would be broken up under Clinton's plan. That already tends to happen but her plan would exacerbate the problem.

Where does Clinton's plan lower the exemption ($5.45 million per person)? I only see an increase in the proposed rates.

She would impose a 50% rate that would apply to estates over $10 million a person, a 55% rate that starts at $50 million a person, and the top rate of 65%, which would affect only those with assets exceeding $500 million for a single person and $1 billion for married couples.

The estate tax has existed for a century, other than the one year repeal in 2010. The exemption amounts have increased from $1 million back in 2002 to $5.45 million today.

Based on what I've seen, Clinton's current proposed plan is making no changes to the exemption nor any changes in the underlying estate tax law (other than rates) and thus her plan should have no impact on someone/family that has already done estate tax planning. Not sure why anyone is blaming Hillary for a law that has been around for a century.

You, Jbog and many others may not like the fact you need to hire a lawyer / accounting firm for estate tax planning, however, its been this way for decades and decades. A good friend of mine's full-time job for a decade was working on Ted Turner's and Jane Fonda's estate tax planning that generated him a million plus dollar annual paycheck but saved Ted and Jane $100's of millions. The same thing can be said for any tax planning (corporate tax planning, etc.).

If you want to get rid attorney fees you need to get rid of the law and find something for the 1.2+ million lawyers in the U.S. to do. Otherwise, if you're not a lawyer you need to hire someone to help you get the best of the current law.

10nis