Taxation & Estate Planning

A Worst Case Scenario For The Estate Tax

By michael

Greg Herman-Giddens of the North Caroline Estate Planning Blog cites inside sources in the U.S. Senate for the following prediction:  Congress will do nothing to reform the present estate tax laws.  Rather, they will pass a one year extension of the status-quo and let the exemption fall to $1 million per person – which will happen without legislative intervention – in 2011.

This, in addition to the coming increases in income taxes, will help pay for health care reform and all the other hemorrhaging of taxpayers’ money.

Time to start polishing those time-to-do-your-estate-planning letters to all those recalcitrant clients of yours?  I don’t know…  Its no secret the government is strapped for cash and that healthcare reform, regardless of what form it finally takes, will probably be the most expensive legislation since the New Deal so the government will have to find a way to pay for it, but I don’t know.  We’ll see I guess.

This would be great for us estate planners…  We’d have so much more work to do (’cause yeah, that’s really what I need right now) but this would truly be a worst case scenario for tax-payers.

C’mon congress!  The status ain’t quo right now guys.  There’s three proposals in congress – that I know of – so pick one and lets move on so I can finally give some relaible planning advice to my clients!

Full post as published by The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog on August 08, 2009 (boomark / email).