Joe Guy wrote:I don't think a response is needed. Just leave the estate tax the way it is now or eliminate it.
Why in the world would you eliminate it? Do you think heritable concentrations of wealth -- and therefore power -- are a good thing for a democratic society? Do you think the economy is best served by encouraging such concentrations of wealth over generations of plutocrats for their exclusive use and benefit? Do you think increasing the disparity between the rich (particularly the super-rich) and the middle/working classes is a good thing?
MajGenl.Meade wrote:Is a $5.3 million exemption so "ridiculous" if the estate is being divided between (say) the surviving spouse, three children, the DNC, the family servants and the Pilates instructor?
Even such an apparently benificent sum, divided by 7+, can hardly be said to equal a rich family continuing to be rich. Maybe the exemption should be $5.3million per legatee?
That might be one approach, if you strictly limit the class of potential beneficiaries, because the policy goal is to encourage distributions
before death rather than to accumulate assets until death. (However, $5.3M per person is still too much.) And in fact, you can make tax-free transfers to as many people as you want during life as long as you keep those transfers below the gift tax limit.