http://blog.oup.com/2009/02/grandfather-exemption/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:01:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blog.oup.com/2009/02/grandfather-exemption/#comment-152709 CardozoAbraham Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:49:09 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=3087#comment-152709 It is one thing to provide some sort of transitional grace period to trusts that existed in 1986, and which grace period would eventually expire - say, when the descendants have to resort to history books to read who actually created the wealth they live off. It is quite another thing to insist that old money trusts be protected ad infinitum. Yes, "Congress grandfathered from the GST transfers of wealth from [certain] trusts." But Congress didn't great-great-great-great-great-grandfather them. It is one thing to provide some sort of transitional grace period to trusts that existed in 1986, and which grace period would eventually expire – say, when the descendants have to resort to history books to read who actually created the wealth they live off. It is quite another thing to insist that old money trusts be protected ad infinitum. Yes, “Congress grandfathered from the GST transfers of wealth from [certain] trusts.” But Congress didn’t great-great-great-great-great-grandfather them.

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/02/grandfather-exemption/#comment-149251 Herb Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:12:18 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=3087#comment-149251 I disagree with Belicoso's view that we should not tax accumulated wealth on death. The tax rate should be progressive with no tax on small estates (under $3.5 million increasing with inflation) but significant for larger estates (55% is the current high rate). Any society will suffer if wealth is concentrated in a few hands that can easily steer the political system and bend it to their benefit. While the New Deal created the prosperity of the 50's to 80's by creating a bona fide middle class of consumers, the turn to the right starting with Reagan and the Bushes has left us with lower taxes on the super-wealthy so Warren Buffett pays a lower rate than his secretary. We can no longer afford to starve our government to please the ideologues who would hope to see it flounder and waste away. Government has too many responsibilities that private capital cannot fulfill from national defense to education. I disagree with Belicoso’s view that we should not tax accumulated wealth on death. The tax rate should be progressive with no tax on small estates (under $3.5 million increasing with inflation) but significant for larger estates (55% is the current high rate). Any society will suffer if wealth is concentrated in a few hands that can easily steer the political system and bend it to their benefit. While the New Deal created the prosperity of the 50′s to 80′s by creating a bona fide middle class of consumers, the turn to the right starting with Reagan and the Bushes has left us with lower taxes on the super-wealthy so Warren Buffett pays a lower rate than his secretary. We can no longer afford to starve our government to please the ideologues who would hope to see it flounder and waste away. Government has too many responsibilities that private capital cannot fulfill from national defense to education.

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/02/grandfather-exemption/#comment-149225 belicoso Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:08:34 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=3087#comment-149225 I will say that I believe if you're going to tax wealth then you've got to tax it all, you can't make distinctions on the time the wealth was accumulated. HOWEVER, I would also say that I don't think ANY of it should be taxed. Our assets are taxed during our lifetimes and should not be taxed a second time as we try to pass them to the parties we outline in our wills. It's hard enough for someone to collect inheritance these days with more and more family members doing their best Anna Nicole Smith impression by trying to tie up family estates in court until their relatives concede out of sheer exhaustion. But since this country's great irony is that so many strive to be wealthy but we hate to let anyone else be wealthy, so we vote to tax them to even out the situation. If we must live with a death tax, then it must be applied to "old" money and "new" money alike. I will say that I believe if you’re going to tax wealth then you’ve got to tax it all, you can’t make distinctions on the time the wealth was accumulated. HOWEVER, I would also say that I don’t think ANY of it should be taxed. Our assets are taxed during our lifetimes and should not be taxed a second time as we try to pass them to the parties we outline in our wills. It’s hard enough for someone to collect inheritance these days with more and more family members doing their best Anna Nicole Smith impression by trying to tie up family estates in court until their relatives concede out of sheer exhaustion. But since this country’s great irony is that so many strive to be wealthy but we hate to let anyone else be wealthy, so we vote to tax them to even out the situation. If we must live with a death tax, then it must be applied to “old” money and “new” money alike.

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