Letter to the Editor, Minneapolis Star Tribune
In response to the July 27 editorial "Estate tax / A levy worth keeping,"
I could not agree more that the estate tax should not be repealed. In addition
to affecting only a very small minority of families, several other facts should
be known.
First, the estate tax is essentially a "voluntary" tax. Families
that actually pay an estate tax do so because the decedent(s) did not do the
requisite planning to minimize or to avoid the tax. Congress, through the Internal
Revenue Code, already provides numerous legal techniques to minimize or to avoid
the tax -- if the individual or couple takes the time and effort to do the planning.
Second, with the implementation of intermediate tax planning, in married couples
each person can take advantage of the already large estate tax exemption.
Third, repeal of the estate tax could trigger increased income taxes due to
changes in the income tax basis rules following an individual's death.
Additionally, in more than 22 years of tax and estate planning practice, I
have never been involved with an estate which has lost a family business or
a family farm because of the estate tax.
Jeffrey P. Molever, Plymouth.
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