re: #495 lawhawk

I generally see the estate/gift taxes as additional taxes on income that has already been taxed previously

I’m sorry, but that always makes me giggle. Income gets additionally taxed all the time— I have to pay income tax on income and then pay sales tax when using that income. I’m not sure why people treat some situations of ‘double taxation’ as bad and wrong and others as completely fine. Money is taxed when it changes hands, typically; that’s what happens when an estate passes on. Those receiving the estate are not receiving the fruits of their own labors, but a gift.

And to your point that you can take steps to avoid the estate tax - there are lifetime caps on what you can transfer tax free. Over the cap, and you’re hit with the tax. States have different takes on GSTTs (generation skipping transfer taxes), estate taxes, and gift taxes, to collect revenues from various transfers.

Well, no, not entirely true. There are mechanisms of transfer that do not have any actual caps on them, like transfers into trusts. They all have their limitations, but that’s because in order to avoid estate tax, you have to give up a measure of control.

By the way, I’m going to be— or rather, my parents will be— subject to the estate tax due to a house that we own, so this is more than academic for me and my family.

So is your answer that you think there should be zero estate tax?