Estate tax rate zero in 2010, one year ONLY... Hypothetical question:

[elehhhhna]

Say you're 83 y/o, reasonable health, and worth 30 million bucks and have 5 living heirs (offspring). If you die in 2010 your heirs pay no estate tax. After 2010 they get SOCKED for a couple hundred G's. How nervous would you be?

[SheilaT]

1. Worse yet,

consider the plight of similar families whose patriarchs and matriarchs have the bad timing to die in 2009, especially in December of that year. Now THAT'S a real tragedy. What they need to do is eliminate all estate taxes retroactive back to 2000 or so. Just think of the enormous refund of money all those people would get, and how much good it would do the economy as the newly-enriched heirs would put that money back in the economy. Not like the government which will waste that money on social service programs. Of course, if the government is spending more money on war-related things, surely we're all better off.

[global1]

6. They May Need Some Of That Ice They Had Zagawri On......

and then say they died in 2010.

[survivor999]

11. LOL...

I was thinking that some of these people who die in 2008 or 2009 may be kept frozen until 2010 and their deaths declared only then... I BET somebody will do just this...

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. The thought had occured to me

though I doubt people would go for someone in reasonable health - there are still police investigations. More likely would seem to be euthanasia of very sick people - keep them alive until the tax free year, and then get rid of them. It wouldn't surprise me to see attempts to legalise open euthanasia by that time.

[elehhhhna]

8. A rush on DNR orders in 2010.

[eleny]

3. Lots of people are practicing yelling "BOO!"

[survivor999]

4. Can that be changed at all?

Why the hell should people pay no taxes on an estate in 2010? Seems so arbitrary... I bet the rate of accidental deaths for elderly folks with such an estate is gonna go up dramatically in 2010!

[w4rma]

5. Idiot Repugs wanted a bill back in 2001 or so that wouldn't look like they

we're breaking the bank so that their budget out past 2010 would look nice for the public. So they made the estate tax drop by 10% each year until 2010 when it came back in full the year after.

So that is the reason that it phases back in 2011 and why it is gone for one year in 2010.

[survivor999]

10. Thanks.

Been out of the loop on this... :)

[Yupster]

9. The suicide rate will go up tremendously

just after Christmas of 2010 if the current law is not changed.

I go for a compromise of around $ 5 million. I think most people could live with that.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

17. It's not a free ride in 2010

The trade off in 2010 is that assets in an estate, subject to some exceptions, will not receive a stepped up basis upon the death of the owner as they currently do. Thus, when the asset is later sold, there will be an increase in the capital gain tax due.

[warrens]

7. As nervous as a cat at pit bull farm

Bwahahahaha. Sweat, you thugs.

[Sgent]

12. 20 million in assets

20 million - 2 million exemption = 18 million

18 Million X .55 = 9.9 million

Amount left to heirs if you die Dec 31:
20 million

Amount left Jan 1:
10.1 million

[PeaceProgProsp]

13. The people committing suicide in 2010 will be estate lawyers

and people who raise money for charities.

With good estate planning, you can completely avoid estate tax. Without an estate tax, nobody will need an estate plan (except to avoid state tax).

[Geoff R. Casavant]

16. Close. So close. But not quite.

Wrong on both counts --

"With good estate planning, you can completely avoid estate tax."

Nope, if the estate is large enough to be taxable it can't be avoided altogether, although good planning will allow you to minimize the tax bite and, if you are married, defer the rest.

On edit: One possible exception -- if a charity is your major beneficiary, then your statement may be correct. But who really wants to do that?

"Without an estate tax, nobody will need an estate plan (except to avoid state tax)."

Guess again. You have no idea how much money I have made over the years because someone, somewhere, wanted to save a few bucks by not hiring an attorney to do their estate planning. Even disregarding taxes, you have to admit that the orderly and efficient succession of property is a pretty worthy goal.

[SheilaT]

14. You also need to realize that

in any given year there are literally only a handful of estates that are taxable under the current laws. I doubt that you'd be able to notice a statistically significant change in the death rate in 2010. And just because the recent attempt to make the zero tax rate of that year permanent, don't think that they won't try again and again and again, and will perhaps actually succeed some time before December 31, 2010.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

15. You're not the first to mention this

I actually read a legal article on this aspect of the current estate tax scheme, and the attorney who wrote the article predicted, with tongue only slightly in cheek, that December 2010 would see a spike in old people in hospitals hiring bodyguards to watch over their life support machines.

[gratuitous]

18. Paul Krugman calls this provision

The "Throw Momma From the Train" Act.

[lindisfarne]

19. There's still time to change the 2010 estate tax back to what it is in

2009 and/or 2011.