George W. Bush, former president, had his estate tax expire at the end of 2009. Rich individuals were being encouraged by Senate to postpone death until New Year’s Day, 2010. The 45 percent estate tax, or death tax, wouldn’t have to be paid by their families if they could do this. .
There’s a much smaller exemption with the estate tax at 55 percent
It was reported by the Wall Street Journal that exemptions will fall to $ 1 million per individual from the $ 3.5 it was previously when top estate tax rates will increase to 55 percent. That will rope as much as eight times more taxpayers into the estate tax arena, possibly putting some in a position where they may even have to borrow money. Here is an example from the Journal on how the new estate tax affects a $ 5 million estate. The added estate tax for somebody who dies on January 1, 2011, would be over $ 2 million. For a $ 15 million estate, the new cost would be approximately $ 8 million. This is prompting some heirs to wail, “I want my cash til payday!”
Many individuals care little about rich individuals losing money. Nevertheless, this change within the way estate is taxed is dramatic. The Journal quotes Joseph Thorndike, of Tax Analysts, saying, “a jump from zero to 55 percent would be the largest increase in a major tax that we’ve ever seen” and is also a payday for the International Revenue Service. Now you will find individuals making decisions based off of the death incentive that comes from the estate tax. Since there are elections in the fall, Congress won’t be taking any action yet. Questions like whether retroactive extension to the current zero-level estate tax will be approved are on the minds of estate holders.
Estate tax suicide is never recommended
Money is never worth more than human life. This is something any doctor will tell you – it ties into their Hippocratic Oath – but not all patients are listening, including those sweating out the estate tax problem. Sometimes they will go to other countries where you will find aid-in-dying laws to help them. Although both Switzerland and the Netherlands, as outlined by the Wall Street Journal, both allow doctors to aid in suicide, only Switzerland will allow this to be extended to visitors from an additional country.
More information accessible at these sites
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703609004575355572928371574.html
Oh yeah? Well, Bill Gates’ dad likes it!
youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_jxLKbbDo
