What Was Ted Kennedys Estate Tax Bill
By: Gil Forbes | Posted: 20th June 2011
There are certain restrictions for estates that are subject to the Estate Tax. Each year tax laws are updated or completely changed; therefore, estate representatives or family members are encouraged to review the new Estate Tax laws. At the current time, the majority of estates are not subject to an Estate Tax if they are valued at less than one million fifty thousand dollars. The Estate Tax value is expected to increase up to two million dollars for the 2006 year. In addition to meeting a certain estate value, it is also likely that the majority of properties that are jointly owned will not be taxed if at least one property owner is still living.
Moreover, if you have a home business you can find help with real estate tax also.
This is accomplished by having the Testator's Will create a Disclaimer Trust that would be funded by whatever the surviving spouse disclaims. The Disclaimer Trust can provide that all the income be paid to the spouse and have the principal be available to the surviving spouse for certain purposes, such as the surviving spouse's health, education, maintenance and support.
However, many people also stand on the opposite side of the estate tax debate. These people claim that the tax is a form of wealth redistribution as the tax only targets the incredibly wealthy. What's more, the tax is viewed as a manner in which the deceased rich are paying back their dues to the society that enabled them to get rich, essentially giving the government a fair share of the money it has provided. Lastly, the tax is viewed in the sense that, since it is only targeting the extreme rich, as a way to bring in money without hurting someone's livelihood.
Estate taxes are federal taxes placed upon any estate above a certain net worth. The net worth of an estate is the value of all property and financial assets minus the total of debts that are owed. In 2009 all estates worth more than 3.5 million dollars were assessed with a forty-five percent federal tax. As you can see, estate taxes can be quite a financial burden for your family.
A few weeks ago the House of Representatives passed a bill that aimed to extend the current 45% tax. The Senate then attempted to vote on a similar bill last Wednesday that aimed to extend the tax for two months - giving them enough time to hopefully develop a long-term solution - but between strong Republican opposition and a Congress focused on health care reform the effort was unsuccessful. Many experts call the issue a failure on behalf of the Obama administration and Democratic leaders for failing to address the problem before, and by neglecting to work with Republican leaders to develop an amicable solution.
There are many hard parts about owning property and other things that you have to figure out before you know what is going to be a good investment for you and what is not. One of the things that you have to stage sure that you are focusing on when it comes to distinctive aspects of property authority is the idea of estate taxes. There are many different things that estate taxes are going to be valid to do for you, and there are several ways that they are going to work against you if you don't entirely understand them or if you aren't used to dealing with them.
I think there is a good chance the answer is "no," and I imagine a lot of players in this game see things the same way. They are urging Republicans to hold out for a continued estate tax hiatus, even at the price of letting all of the Bush cuts expire in January, pending some retroactive legislation.
Let's assume you would prefer to leave all your 'before taxes' RRSP to your heirs. This doesn't have to cost you money out of your pocket. You could use $4,400 (as a 60 year old male) annually from a RRIF to buy a $200,000 life insurance policy. This premium represents a little more than two per cent income from the $200,000 principal.About the Author
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Tags: 5 million, fair share, thousand dollars, one million, current time, million dollars, net worth, property owner, livelihood, two million, health education, testator, federal tax, federal taxes, financial assets