The Estate Tax Essay

Americans that support higher taxes on the one percent believe that this will help contribute large amounts of money to the federal government. According to Patricia Cohen, in a New York Times article, she claims that the top .1 percent of Americans have an average income of about $9.4 million. If the government were to raise taxes to 45 percent on the top .1 percent this would produce about $109 billion in revenue in the first year (Cohen). The federal government could use this money for education, health care programs, and social and income security. Taxing the top .1 percent creates a significant revenue increase, but taxing the top one percent at 45 percent would create about $276 billion in revenue (Cohen). This tax rate will bring in a sizable increase which is why many Americans believe that the top one percent should have a marginal tax rate of 90 percent.

The top 1 percent of the wealthiest people in the U.S. pay a total of over 40 percent of all federal income taxes, which is more than the entire bottom 95 percent of all tax payers. Government programs are funded through Social Insurance Taxes that are the fastest growing source of federal income though it’s actually counted separately in special trust funds by the Treasury. Both federal and state governments combine these taxes that are used to pay for social programs such as social security, Medicare, and unemployment services. This type of taxation is a regressive tax, since lower income people end up paying more from their income than those with a higher income. Another federal tax is the excise tax, better considered a luxury tax for non-necessities, which include things like liquor, cigarettes, gas, and highways. Taxes that are imposed on imported goods so that there’s less foreign competition on the domestic market are called customs duties.

Parent Corporation owns 85% of the common stock and 100% of the preferred stock of Subsidiary Corporation. The common stock and preferred stock have adjusted bases of $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, to Parent. Subsidiary adopts a plan of liquidation on July 3 of the current year, when its assets have a $1 million FMV. Liabilities on that date amount to $850,000. On November 9, Subsidiary pays off its creditors and distributes $150,000 to Parent with respect to its preferred stock. No cash remain to be aid to Parent with respect to the remaining $50,000 of its liquidation preference for the preferred stock, or with respect to any common stock. In each of Subsidiary’s tax years, less than %10 of its gross

Kathy and Brett Ouray were married in 1996. In 2014, they consider themselves completely estranged. Due to financial reasons they have decided to not get a divorce or live separately. They also do not have any legal documentation of separation and neither of them has lived outside the home for a significant amount of time. They currently reside together with their three children. They have decided that Brett has contributed more to the upkeep of their home and children than Kathy. They have also decided to file separately. Brett believes he is eligible to file for head-of-household.

Further complicating that tax scenario is what his heirs will owe in federal estate taxes. Attorneys said that estate taxes can be as high as 40% and will depend on Wilson's final arrangements.

The tax system in the United States has changed throughout the years, with many attempts to make it "fair" or "equal" while at the same time generating enough income for the United States government to thrive. It is a complex issue, and a controversial one at that. While it may not be possible for our tax system to ever be fair, it is important to make sure it doesn 't put more financial stress and pressure on one group than on another.

The United States is a capitalist society; money is powerful. The wealthy and those in power are able to influence tax policy. There are a few tax policies that have more of a benefit to the wealthy than to the poor. A few of them include the mortgage interest deduction, the yacht tax deduction, rental property, business meal deduction, capital gains tax rate, estate tax, social security, and savings for retirement plans.

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 created a combined estate and gift tax rate of 40% while raising the estate tax exemption to $5.43 million in 2015. The gift exclusion stays at $14,000 in 2015. These changes generate some estate-planning benefits that most people haven’t yet realize. For example, many wealthy people didn 't bother trying to minimize capital gains in the past because the lower tax rate of 15% was better than paying 50% in estate taxes. Now people can benefit by choosing which assets they keep until death more carefully. Appreciated assets can be held until death and might fall within the $5.43 million exemption. This could be especially important when realizing capital gains could be subject to a higher, nearly 24%

"The most perennially political issues in the United States is the question of how much Americans should be taxed. Indeed, discounted over taxes was one of the major motivating factors in the revolution that established the United States as an independent nation"("Extending Tax Cuts", 1). Since taxes are one of the biggest topics in politics, there is always going to be two sides of the subject, and Taxes will always strike controversy in our country. The topic of having the rich pay more in tax has a deep history to consider, and there will always be both supporters and critics who continue to debate this topic.

Before delving into the topic at hand, a look at the current and projected tax system will help understand the predicament of taxing the upper class. According to Bardes, Schmidt, and Shelley, in the textbook American Government and Politics Today: Brief Edition, Americans pay a variety of federal, state, and local taxes, which are all assessed on most sources of income, sales and land. Bardes et al, made their agenda clear by pointing out that “the wealthy receive a much greater share of their income from these sources (capital gains, rents, royalties, interests, dividends, or profits from business), than others do (315).” But what is considered wealthy? In the article, Who gets to be “Rich”, Jordan Weissmann reported that a household income of around $113,000 lands one at the top 10% of income earners, while $394,000 makes one a

The 16th Amendment of the United States Constitution states, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

Should be taxed: Professor at Syracuse University College of Law and Whitman School of Management, David Cay Johnston, in his article, 9 Things the Rich Don't Want You to

The estate tax is a tax upon your right to transfer property at the time of your death. It is often called the death tax and it has been a partisan point of disagreement for quite some time. As the tax only applies to estates of $5.45 million and over, this tax only applies to the wealthy. Enacted in 1916 to help finance World War I, the estate tax has come under more scrutiny lately because of our government’s financial situation and the one-hundredth anniversary (Caron 825). The intellectual world is divided on whether to repeal, reform, or keep unchanged the estate tax. Some even argue that transfers of wealth should not be taxed at all. This essay will contend that the current estate tax should be replaced with a lifetime accessions tax to encourage donors, reduce concentrations of wealth, and safeguard equality of opportunity. Before arguing for the lifetime accessions tax, this paper will outline the history of the estate tax, the purposes of taxing wealth transfers, and compare the lifetime accessions tax to other proposed alternatives.

One of the obvious reasons to raise the taxes of the rich would be because they simply earn more. One example is if two people started the year off with fifty thousand but then let us say one had a rich family member that died and they had received millions through a will, then say they received a gift of one billion by the end of the year they pay the same taxes even though one of they are now a billionaire (Cohen). The reason is that the government does not tax on gifts or wills so then they would not have to pay more taxes if they received a gift that had consisted of a large sum of cash (Cohen). Now there is a large chunk of change out of circulation and now the middle/lower

Taxation systems are usually modeled in such a way that they take into consideration the social welfare of the citizens. The government and other policy makers have the responsibility of ensuring that the system takes into account the needs of the citizens. The bottom line is that taxation should foster equal distribution of resources. The rate of taxation is usually arrived at after several considerations have been made. The rates are not fixed as they depend on the various economic changes. The issue of how taxation should be distributed among the different economic classes is yet to be addressed.