WASHINGTON (UPI) — Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday released an updated tax plan that would impose a 65 percent tax on estates for the wealthiest individuals in the country.
By contrast, her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has proposed eliminating the estate tax entirely.
The present tax code has a 40 percent tax rate on any inheritances worth more than $1 million, and in 2016, the first $5.45 million of an estate can be passed to heirs tax-free.
Under Clinton’s plan, three higher brackets would be put in place, one at 50 percent for estates over $10 million, 55 percent for estates over $50 million and 65 percent for estates worth more than $500 million.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington have fought over the estate tax, also referred to by critics as the “death tax,” for years. Supporters argue it is an essential tool to prevent the concentration of wealth in a few massively rich families. Opponents view it as an unfair double-taxation on wealth — investments and income the individual paid taxes on while alive that is taxed again after they die.
Overall, according to The Wall Street Journal, the estate tax is a relatively small part of the federal tax code, bringing in about 1 percent of the government’s tax revenue. Clinton’s changes would bring in an estimated $260 billion over 10 years, money she said could be used to expand the child tax credit and fund changes to the small business tax code, which she has proposed simplifying and reducing.
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What you worked hard for all of your life shouldn’t go to your descendants, it should go to the government. Right hell’liary? It’s not enough that ALL of that money has already been taxed to death, now you want all that’s left. There should be no such thing as an estate tax. I don’t care how much the estate is worth. It was accumulated by a taxpayer, and none of it belongs to the government!
No wonder she created a Foundation where she/Bill can take as much money out as they want in salaries. She is desperate for voters but her new suggestion is crazy. 40% of 1 mill should be totally eliminated…guess she doesn’t think so since that’s where they get most of their money. I totally agree that there should NOT be an estate tax, and I know a lot of very wealthy people don’t pay much in taxes BUT they are the ones who keep the economy going so if they put $ 10 mill into a mall to be built, I don’t really care. That’s why Hillary wants Trump’s tax return to point out how little he paid and not mentioning how many people he put to work!! HOW LOW CAN SHE GO ?
I sincerely hope that Trump does NOT release his return/s before after Nov since the avg won’t be able to understand them but can only get an opinion from CNN…ugh!
Lets see..
Your business was taxed when they earned their profits, both in sales AND income taxes. Then it was taxed again in payroll taxes as it was waged to you.
Then YOU paid income taxes on it both at the federal and state (and in many cases county and city level too)..
Then you paid further income taxes on it when it sat in the bank earning interest OR worse yet, Capital gains if you invested it.
Now she wants to jack up the amount you pay on it, if you leave it to your kids?!
At this rate, i wonder how many rich families are just going to spend like crazy to make it so when they are close to death, there is NOT more than 1 million left over to give to their kids…
It was accumulated by a taxpayer who has ALREADY paid taxes out the ying yang on every dime of it, baitfish, not to mention property taxes every year, etc. And so after the person is dead, the government wants to swoop in and tax it yet AGAIN–and at 65 PERCENT? That is not “taxation”–that is legalized THIEVERY.
I don’t have a dog in this hunt–I don’t have anything that would constitute an “estate” big enough to tax–but I know THIEVERY when I see it!
shanette, I’m pretty sure Trump knows why Shrillary is so keen to get her corrupt, dirty little paws on his tax returns. That is why he is smart NOT to let her have them!
That is not “taxation”–that is legalized THIEVERY.
And that whole ‘taxation without representation/taxation is legal thievery’ is one of the reasons we rebelled against the Crown of England.. So we could get OUT FROM UNDER That thumb.
This kind of “Death tax” hits the so called family farmer the hardest. At today’s land value it only takes 300 to 350 acres of land to meet her criteria of ultra rich… A farmers heir will have to buy back half of the farm from the government should the owner pass away. Paying that back will take his entire lifetime but if that heir passes away then the government will basically own that land.
Its simply another government land grab. The best thing a family farmer can do is either begin selling the farm to their heir very early or they need to incorporate in order to pass the land along in small pieces through employee bonusus, etc. As well as selling it to their heir.
Agree and as Mitt Romney…give his wonderful sons $5-10K every year !!! I can’t stand to look @ that family.
I pray that Hillary will get a coughing fit which will be out of control and the debate will be cancelled :))
Or do as some friends i know have.. Sell it off in small parcels to each individual family member who normally would inherit it, prior to your death..
Definitely. Democrats despise farmers.
hillary is literaly dealth in a pant suit.
Working hard and investing wisely is no longer a virtue, it has become a form of greed, greed according to a government which neither works hard or invests wisely. The ‘penniless’ Clintons amassed quite a fortune which will never be taxed at the 65% level because that money will be placed in accounts not subject to this hidious tax.
I recall Ted Kennedy advocating raising the income tax, he could afford it on a senator’s stipend because his real income was from nontaxable sources.
She passes this off as “taxing the rich”, but what it REALLY DOES is it forces families of somebody who has spent a LIFETIME building a successful SMALL business or farm and then dies to have to SELL THE BUSINESS OR FARM to pay the estate tax. 65 PERCENT? That is THIEVERY. There is NO other name for it. A good-sized family farm or ranch, because of equipment, cost of land, etc. might be worth MILLIONS on paper–but that doesn’t mean they’ve got millions of dollars lying around just waiting for the government to scoop it up.
Of course she promises NOW that there would be lower rates for lesser estates–but that is just to get this outrage passed and on the books. Then they can start to eliminate the “exemptions” and hike the rates. Government should NEVER be trusted to “play fair” with this kind of tax.
I said “Government should NEVER be trusted to “play fair” with this kind of tax.” Should have added, that is ESPECIALLY true of a government run by COMMUNISTS like Obama and Shrillary.
If you look at the history of the Soviet Union, as soon as the Communists took that country over, the FIRST thing they did was start running the prosperous, “middle class” farmers off their land so they could confiscate it, throwing them in prison on trumped-up charges, shipping them off to the gulags in Sibaeria, etc. STEALING the land from private owners is the FIRST order of business for Communists, and Alinksy worshipers that they are, that is what BOTH Obama and Shrillary believe in, too!
The death tax really affects family farms. The value of the land in some areas easily surpasses $1 million and the kids can’t come up with the cash to pay the government, so it gets sold off to some corporate farm. I guess that is what Hillary wants.
Of course it is.. Corporations fund her, so she does their bidding.
Unlike most farmers, who if they Do donate to a political party, are often doing so to republicans…
But, our family real property, I have set up in a Texas Trust to benefit my young daughters, has already been taxed repeatedly (when I earned the income, annually in my Schedule E filing, rental income, etc.). And, annual property taxes (D/FW area) continue to rise. Ready for the next (cash) purchase, but, I think “Atlas Shrugged”…. Next investment/rental property will be in Europe, in a small country that has a shortage of “private market” and “upscale” residential rentals, and does not tax rental income….