USATODAY EDITORIAL:… Of the nearly 3 million Americans who die every year, only about two-tenths of 1% have enough assets to qualify. It’s a rather exclusive group…
Despite all the rhetoric about the “death tax,” dead people don’t pay taxes. They are dead. Repealing the tax would be a huge windfall for their heirs. The average tax break per estate would be an estimated $3 million in 2016, and the 318 largest estates would get an average tax cut of $20 million…
The claims about farms being sold off are especially bogus. Besides exempting nearly $11 million of the value of a family-owned farm passed on by a couple, the law bends over backward to make it possible for heirs to keep it. Among the ways: Land that will continue to be farmed can be assessed at its value as farm land, not the much higher amount it would be worth if sold for subdivision or oil and gas development. And heirs can stretch any tax they do owe over at least 14 years… (more)
