GOP estate tax repeal

[El OchoCinco]

Can't argue with any of that, except maybe that savers money is dead money. They often deploy other assets when they know they are getting good, safe interest returns on other investments.

Well dead money in the sense of what happened in Japan. The culture was built on savings so people put money in banks nad postal savings accounts and got good rate of returns. When the economy was suffering and Japan central bank lowered rates that money stayed in those accounts despite the piss poor returns. Just a cultural and given Japan's history immediately after WWII. I call it dead money because it was just parked rather than circulating in other investments.

In the U.S. we really don't have that problem because we are not savers at all, clearly overspenders from the Government down to the poorest person sporting the latest cell phone. I have seen the cleaning crew at one of my buildings with iPhones and SUV haha.

Only reason I have "savings" is because I have not figured out how to spend it all yet

 

[UsualName]

Trump's tax plan was corporate tax reform. Whether it was needed or not, is unclear to me. Trump had done a lot for the economy with his deregulation hype and pro-capitalist rhetoric.

I’m wondering if anyone on this forum has actually even looked at their tax bill this year?

 

[newwurldmn]

Why should I focus on the grantor not the grantee?

Fair point about a child's college education. Does that fall under a gift giving? It specifically might not because education has very unique rules. But if you bought your child a house, that certainly would.

There should be limits that allow for gift giving... I think the current limit was 5MM. It's higher under the new code.

But it does not benefit society if wealth continues to concentrate at the top - and inheritance is the primary way that happens.

You're placing it on the grantee when this all about the grantor. It's the grantor's money. He/she should be free to do with it what they want. Let's apply your logic to other things like a parent paying for a child's college education. Should that be a taxable event?

And I did not use the term you did.

 

[newwurldmn]

You can know about the second fee, and it can still be unfair. You get the concept of mutual exclusivity, don't you?

When I decide to employ money I have made (which has already been taxed) the manner in which I employ this money often comes with expense/risk/cost. For example, choosing to purchase a car is a decision to buy the car for the offered price and sales tax. I see the car, calculate the cost and make the decision. If I don't want to pay the tax or the tax is too much, I don't buy it. Maybe I pay cash to someone on Craigslist for a car. Choosing to invest in the stock market with my money (which has already been taxed) comes with risk of loss. If I make money on that investment, the money I make is taxed via capital gains. That is the price to pay.

At the end of my life, when I wish to bequeath my wealth to my family, I don't have a choice. Sure, I can give it away to charity at no cost, but the choice of giving it to my family or someone else I am not related to is not really a choice (unless I don't want them to have it, in which case I suppose I could set fire to the money in a parking lot or something). All the dollars that I made, and previously paid tax on, have to now be taxed again because I am gifting them to my family.

The fact that you cannot see the difference in this is extremely telling. It speaks to either one of two possibilities, both extremely disconcerting. Either you can't grasp it mentally, or you choose not to. Either you can't recognize the difference because of faulty wiring, or you simply can't bring yourself to say "I see your point, there is a difference." because you believe it gives up the right to be pro the estate tax.

I'm here to tell you. You can recognize the difference and still be for the tax.

You lose two choices when you die: you can't buy the car and you can't save/invest the money. That's because you are dead.

I understand your argument. Conservatives spout "Double taxation" as the reason against an estate tax. It's not a good reason by itself. The reality is that you don't want to pay more to the government and this is another battleground for it. You would happily exchange a higher estate tax for no income tax, I bet; and I bet you would be upset if your income tax rates went up by double but the estate tax was eliminated for everyone.

Society doesn't benefit if vast amounts of wealth are transferred to succeeding generations.

 

[piezoe]

Ok, and what is to stop the government from continuing to use Social Security as a piggy bank to borrow against? I am OK with raising it if the government couldn't borrow against it and bankrupt it.

The United States can not go Bankrupt, therefore Social Security cannot go bankrupt. What can happen however is idiots can intentionally damage the Social Security System by by not following through on the Trustees' recommendations based on the actuaries calculations. The Trustees have been calling for an increase in the contribution rate for years -- originally a very modest increase -- that Congress has ignored for years.

 

[Scataphagos]

‘I trusted you!’ Trump voters seethe after realizing they’re getting screwed by the GOP’s tax plan
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/tr...alizing-theyre-getting-screwed-gops-tax-plan/



(My federal taxes went up as well this years. The Trump/GOP tax cuts screwed me.)

Trumpy said, "... Most Americans will see a tax cut. Only a small percentage of tax payers will see an increase". So... if you're one of those with an increase, then you're a "tax donkey"... as am I. (Can't have a tax cut across the board without a decrease in spending.... and you know they didn't do that!) If there's a tax cut for some, must be a tax increase for others. Thank you very much!! Still... hosed as I am... yet again... I wouldn't vote a Lefty/Commie in his place. (Trumpy is only taking some/more. The DemoCraps plan on taking EVERYTHING!!)

 

[Cuddles]

It's interesting how liberals sit on their perch in the ivory tower and just assume that the son in this case works like every other employee. You really have no idea what it takes to run a company, do you? How can you say the son wasn't in the developmental or strategic planning to grow the company? There are many small businesses where the son works much harder for the company than the father. Many where the son is actually the defacto owner, just not in name. Then along comes the government to tax the son when the father passes simply because it passed that law.

You folks are shameless. Take from everyone you can, while at the same time never volunteering to give more.

So maybe the son should've been made part owner before his folks passed

 

[piezoe]

We should tax all net income, both earned and unearned (inheritance is unearned income) at exactly the same rates and use the same progressive brackets for both. This is inherently fair as everyone from the poorest pauper to the wealthiest business magnate would then pay exactly the same rate on the same dollar of net income, whether earned or unearned. It would also mean quite a simplification in tax filing. The number of brackets should be considerably increased and the rate in the top bracket should be somewhere between 50 and 70%. Bracket collapse introduced in the 1980s has caused much mischief. It's made concentration of control of the federal government in the hands of a few wealthy individuals even worse, and returned the country to near the plutocracy it was1792. The Founders would be very proud of us.

Dividends should be deductible for corporations and taxed as income to the recipients.

 

[Tsing Tao]

View attachment 197588

I saw this on Twitter and thought it might add to the discussion you guys are having here. About 60% of the wealth in America is inherited.

You kinda have to know what is included in this. If my parents pass away and I get their house, should that count as "estate inheritance" for the purposes of this discussion? I doubt it. Not unless it's a $5 million home or something.

 

[Tsing Tao]

I’m wondering if anyone on this forum has actually even looked at their tax bill this year?

I have.