Death Tax, for or against?

[Indiansfan]

Everyone is right on here. Taxes as a whole are unfair and a joke. Welfare is a joke and the death tax is a joke.

This hits me b/c my dad turn 77 this year and my mom is 71, they are getting up there in age and will not be around forever. They also have a significant amount of money, money that they already paid their taxes on in a high tax bracket. When they pass, I am sure there will be a substantial amount of money left for me, most likely enough to set me up to be debt free until I retire myself, that is the way they are. There is NO WAY I should have to give over half of that to the government so that lazy people can pop out kids, collect free money to buy name brand clothes and get food stamps to spend on lobsters and T-bone steaks while I work an average of 70 hours a week to make ends meet and maintain a somewhat comfortable lifestyle.

On a positive note, I just heard tonight that there is a real good chance that Obama might extend the death tax for another few years in an attempt to win middle support and show people he cares during the recession since his bailouts didn't help in doing anything but making the rich richer.

Have your name put on your parents accounts. That saves you from paying that shit, since they become shared accounts. My aunt did that with my grandma. Her name was on the house and the bank accounts.

Zombie thread!

I just saw this and thought I'd pipe up.

I work with estate taxes every day and, no offense beckster, but joint/survivorship won't eliminate all of the tax liability for estate taxes. Especially the federal estate tax. Obviously I can't speak for every state in the U.S. but the same goes for most states as well.

The estate tax annoys the bejeebers out of me. It's nothing but a wealth redistribution plot. Basically, it takes 45% over the cap amount of anyone that dies worth over $1 million or above. (Highly simplified numbers)

While people think, "ohh, this will stop Bill Gates from passing on so much to his kids, we need it more than they do" it could not be further from the truth. Most of his money will be going to his foundation (non taxable transfer) and what his kids do get - they can afford to pay the tax leaving the kids with plenty still for the rest of their lives.

It tends to hurt small businesses and mid sized farmers the worst since they are they ones that are also over that amount. If you think about it, really, even $5 million isn't that much anymore if you look at capital in a business. Farm equipment, real estate, machinery in a factory, buildings, warehouses, etc. A family owned hardware store can easily be worth $1 mil or more