Re: So, why would I vote Republican?

Brad Greer wrote:
On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:21:26 -0700, Carlisle
<carrie-cox@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sep 7, 1:41 pm, Brad Greer <jjh110...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:17:54 -0700, Carlisle





<carrie-...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sep 7, 3:26 am, Pepe Papon <a...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:13:09 -0700, Lfh <onetaste2...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
You want the rich to get richer?
Uh sure yeah..What do you think the top tax rate should be, Seth? 70%
80%? When my mom passes away we have to pay the government half of my
parents' savings unless she pays a kings ransome in life insurance. I
just think it's funny that only so called republicans supposedly want
to get richer. Wonder what stocks Joko the mad clown's trust fund is
invested in that allows him to fly (imagine the carbon footprint!) to
Hawaii to see a mediocre band and smoke more dope. Ain't capitalism
great when you don't have to work for it!
Really? Your mom's estate will owe 50% to the government in estate
taxes? Hard to imagine when the current top rate is 45% and the first
two million of the estate is exempt. Perhaps your mom needs to
consult a tax attorney or better yet, stop swallowing the bull***
lies regarding the so-called death tax.

My parents are in a position where the estate tax could definitely cut
into their estate. However, they have taken numerous steps to limit
their exposure (setting up trusts, gifting money, charitable
contributions, etc.) so they will have a minimum impact from the
estate tax. The belief that "they take half your money when you die"
is pure bull***.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
45% as opposed to 50? 2 million is exempt from estate taxes if you
have the liquidity to set up trusts then that's it. Anything you gift

No - the first 2 million dollars of your estate is exempt. has
nothing to do wih liquidity, etc. - if your estate (home, stocks,
cash, material goods) are worth less than 2 million your estate
doesn't owe a dime. The vast majority of Americans pass away with an
estate under the tax limits.

Keep in mind, too, that you pay 45% of the amount *above* 2 million
dollars. So, let's take a hypothetical example. Say your estate is
worth 3 million dollars. The first 2 are exempt, you pay no taxes on
that. The next million (the rest of your estate) is taxed at 45%,
that's $450,000 that your estate will owe in taxes. Now, I haven't
taken a course in mathematics in a long time but I'm reasonably
certain that $450,000 is no where near 50% of $3,000,000 (it's
actually 15%). So, to make it clear, if your estate owes anything
approaching 50% to taxes you have a very large estate and are guilty
of abysmal planning.

HTH.

The only problem I see with your analysis is that you used too small of an estate value. Take your example to the next level: If someone has an estate worth $12M. Certainly, the first $2M is exempt, but the next $10M is taxed at the same 45%, for a whopping $4.5M tax bill (assuming no trusts have been arranged). Then, you've reached an effective tax rate of nearly 40%. And, obviously, the larger the estate, the higher the effective tax rate (i.e. an estate worth $122M would be taxed at just over 44%).

Remember, of course, that this tax is imposed on moneys that have been saved after income taxes had already been paid and on assets that have been purchased using post-tax dollars and, in many cases, taxed in other ways (such as local property and sales taxes).

And, fwiw, I find Neil's position on this matter very telling. 70 - 80% of an estate should be taxed, simply because he despises many of rich people he's encountered??

Disgusted.
.

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