More on the inheritance tax
Following up on yesterday's rant about the inheritance tax, I'd like to share some numbers on the estate tax rates here at home as compared with other rich countries (I've decided to bag that "industrialized" euphemism.) Check it out.
Interesting, right? Much as we like to think of ourselves as lagging the rest of the world in our impulses, that's not always the case. It's also important to note that the current 46% is the effective tax rate right now. If nothing is done, however, the previous confiscatory rate of 60% will return in 2010, and affect all estates in excess of one million dollars. No wonder 67% of Americans favor scrapping this tax altogether.
Comments
I'm curious. What percentage of estates in excess of one million dollars are inherited every year?
Posted by: DBK | June 23, 2006 12:17 PM
2002 is the most recent year for which the IRS has complete data.
Total adult deaths: 2,389,533
Number of Taxable estates: 28,074
Percentage of adult deaths: 1.17
Posted by: withoutfeathers | June 23, 2006 02:44 PM
Looks like Warren Buffet won't be paying his fair share of inheritance tax.
We need some laws to prevent billionaires from giving their money away to charity before they die in an obvious attempt to evade taxes. What if they all started giving their money away? How would we fund the government?
Posted by: withoutfeathers | June 25, 2006 11:52 PM