Tag: estate taxes

Senate Finance Chair Broadens Inquiry Into Private Placement Life Insurance

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/09/21/senate-finance-chair-broadens-inquiry-into-private-placement-life-insurance/

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A lawmaker who helps shape federal tax legislation has indicated that he wants to keep wealthy families from using private placement life insurance to replace any federal tax loopholes that Congress closes.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, today announced that he has written to Prudential Financial, Zurich Insurance Group and the American Council of Life Insurers to get more information about the PPLI market, and the possibility that many PPLI policies may serve only to reduce the income taxes of families that rank in the wealthiest 1% of American families, not to provide genuine insurance.

“Is investment in PPLI products marketed to new or existing clients as a means to minimize or eliminate ordinary income, capital gains or estate taxes?” Wyden asks in the letters to Prudential and Zurich. “If so, please explain the legal basis for why these products help minimize or eliminate taxes.”

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 21 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Biden’s Tax On Large Capital Gains At Death Will Catch A Few With Annual Incomes Of Less than $400,000

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thewealthadvisor.com/article/bidens-tax-large-capital-gains-death-will-catch-few-annual-incomes-less-400000

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For a relatively small number of decedents, this plan could run headlong into Biden’s promise to not raise taxes on those with incomes below $400,000. Of course, the vast majority of decedents will have unrealized gains of far less than $1 million. Indeed, most will leave entire estates far below that threshold. Among people over 70, about 83 percent live in a household with total net worth of less than $1 million.

But some people with large unrealized gains will have been living on relatively low incomes. Imagine someone who is retired and living on Social Security, a modest pension, and some savings. But they still are holding that Microsoft stock they bought in 1987.  

Author(s): Howard Gleckman

Publication Date: 31 May 2021

Publication Site: The Wealth Advisor

Stick It to the Rich

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.city-journal.org/bidens-costly-capital-gains-tax-hike

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And applying the higher capital gains rate to top earners, who tend to be wealthy, creates bigger distortions because these taxpayers have many tools to avoid the tax. For example, when you inherit assets subject to estate taxes, the capital gains tax that you pay is based on when the asset was transferred to you, instead of when it was bought. This is known as a step-up in basis. Doubling the tax rate makes this provision much more attractive, and word is that the Biden plan nixes it. High earners can find other ways to get around this tax with the right advice. Certain asset classes, such as investment real estate, offer a chance to lower liability. We may also see more high-net-worth investors move further into the murky world of private equity, where values are easier to distort.

There are better ways to collect investment-income revenue. Getting rid of step-up in basis is a start; the administration could also take on the myriad loopholes that favor different asset classes. But these approaches don’t offer the stick-it-to-the rich satisfaction of doubling the rate on investment income—even if we all wind up paying for it.

Author(s): Allison Schrager

Publication Date: 23 April 2021

Publication Site: City Journal

Senate Democrats Push for Capital-Gains Tax at Death With $1 Million Exemption

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-democrats-push-for-capital-gains-tax-at-death-with-1-million-exemption-11617046200?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

Progressive Senate Democrats suggested that their new plan to tax unrealized capital gains at death should come with a $1 million per-person exemption, setting that line 10 times higher than an earlier Obama administration proposal and shielding a larger swath of upper income households.

A discussion draft released Monday by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and others marks a first attempt to put details on an idea that President Biden endorsed during last year’s campaign. Capital-gains taxation is likely to spur significant debate in coming months as Democrats look to raise money from high-income households to pay for Mr. Biden’s proposed spending on infrastructure and social programs.

Under current law, someone who dies with appreciated assets—including homes, businesses and stocks in taxable accounts—doesn’t have to pay capital-gains taxes on that increase. Instead, the heirs have to pay capital-gains taxes only after they sell and only on gains after the original owner’s death. That “stepped-up basis” is a longstanding feature of the tax code, but it has come under increasing attacks from Democrats who see wealthy people’s profits escaping the income tax.

Author(s): Richard Rubin, Andrew Duehren

Publication Date: 29 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

ILLINOIS IS ONE OF FEW STATES WITH ‘DEATH TAX.’ BILL WOULD DOUBLE IT.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-is-one-of-few-states-with-death-tax-bill-would-double-it/

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Many states have moved away from taxing assets after people die because of the harm to family businesses and farms, but a new proposal before state lawmakers would double Illinois’ estate tax.

House Bill 3920 would hike the existing state tax on estates of over $4 million to 9.95% from 4.95%. Unlike neighboring Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri, Illinois is one of just a dozen states that still have an estate or inheritance tax. Tax Foundation analyst Katherine Loughead noted, “The top marginal estate tax rate under this proposal would become the highest in the country at 21%.”

While the bill’s sponsors intend the extra revenues to be used to support Illinoisans with disabilities, hiking the estate tax would squeeze family farmers, reduce the accumulation of productive assets, encourage spendthrift behavior, fuel tax avoidance and evasion, and drive wealth to other states.

Author(s): Justin Carlson

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois progressives aim for nation’s highest estate tax to give more to people with disabilities

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/illinois-progressives-aim-for-nation-s-highest-estate-tax-to-give-more-to-people-with/article_e6229414-8b53-11eb-8084-f7ac7b6876d2.html#new_tab

Excerpt:

The state would pay for the program by adding an additional 5% on Illinois’ estate tax from 4.95% to 9.95%. That would result in a top marginal rate of 21% on value over $4 million.

“The top marginal estate tax rate under this proposal would become the highest in the country at 21%,” Tax Foundation analyst Katherine Loughead said. 

Illinois is one of 12 states that tax the total value of an estate at the time of the owner’s death. Any estate value over $4 million would be subject to Illinois’ estate tax.

Author(s): Cole Lauterbach

Publication Date: 22 March 2021

Publication Site: The Center Square

Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax won’t work. This will

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://money.yahoo.com/elizabeth-warrens-wealth-tax-wont-work-this-will-200020382.html

Excerpt:

Biden also wants other big tax changes, such as a higher business tax rate and higher rates for households earning more than $400,000. But he might want to start with capital-gains and estate taxes because they’re easier to target at the wealthy. The top 1% of earners capture 69% of long-term capital gains, while the top 20% of earners earn 90% of the capital gains. That shareholder class has benefited most from fiscal and monetary stimulus that has propped up the stock market for the last 11 months and helped with a decade of generous gains. If anybody can afford it, they can.

As for the estate tax, only about 1,900 U.S. estates are subject to any federal tax, which is less than one-tenth of 1% of the Americans who die in a given year. The number of estates subject to this tax was three times higher in 2009, the last year the exemption threshold was $3.5 million. Since Biden wants to return to that ceiling, assume he’d triple the number of families having to pay some estate tax. It still remains a vanishingly small number. Plus, unlike the wealth tax, it has been the law before, and there’s no question of whether it would work.

Author(s): Rick Newman

Publication Date: 2 March 2021

Publication Site: Yahoo Finance

Does Your State Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

Mary Pat Campbell
Does Your State Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

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In addition to the federal estate tax, with a top rate of 40 percent, some states levy an additional estate or inheritance tax. Twelve states and the District of Columbia impose estate taxes and six impose inheritance taxes. Maryland is the only state to impose both.

Hawaii and Washington State have the highest estate tax top rates in the nation at 20 percent. Eight states and the District of Columbia are next with a top rate of 16 percent. Massachusetts and Oregon have the lowest exemption levels at $1 million, and Connecticut has the highest exemption level at $7.1 million.

Of the six states with inheritance taxes, Nebraska has the highest top rate at 18 percent. Maryland imposes the lowest top rate at 10 percent. All six states exempt spouses, and some fully or partially exempt immediate relatives.

Author(s): Janelle Cammenga

Publication Date: 24 February 2021

Publication Site: Tax Foundation