Is there is an estate tax among us making death an incentive?

At the end of 2009, Congress allowed previous President George W. Bush’s estate tax to expire. At the time, the Senate literally encouraged rich people near the end of their lives to postpone their terminal engagement with the choir invisible and stay alive until New Year’s Day, 2010. That way, their families would avoid having to pay a 45 percent estate tax (or death tax, if you prefer). These estate taxes are probably coming back in 2011 unless Congress decides to try and change the law.

There’s a much smaller exemption with the estate tax at 55 percent

It was reported by the Wall Street Journal that exemptions will fall to $ 1 million per individual from the $ 3.5 it was previously when top estate tax rates will increase to 55 percent. That means there can be eight times more tax payers paying estate tax now, even if that means they are borrowing money. Here is an example from the Journal on how the new estate tax affects a $ 5 million estate. The added estate tax for someone who dies on January 1, 2011, would be over $ 2 million. If the estate was $ 15 million, then the cost would be $ 8 million. ”I want my cash now” is being said by all the heirs.”

Called ‘The largest increase in a major tax that we’ve ever seen’

Few average Americans will weep for the wealthy being separated from more of their money, of course. But this sudden turn of the taxation screw is dramatic. Joseph Thorndike of the nonprofit organization Tax Analysts told the Journal “a jump from zero to 55 percent would be the largest increase in a major tax that we’ve ever seen” and a huge cash today for the government and Internal Revenue Service. Many are now considering the death incentive provided by the estate tax. Although they have had chances, Congress won’t take any action with fear of the November elections ahead. Questions like whether retroactive extension to the current zero-level estate tax could be approved are on the minds of estate holders.

Doctors don’t recommend estate tax suicide

A human life is worth more than all the riches in the world. Because of their Hippocratic Oath, doctors will tell this to patients, whether they’re listening or working on their estate tax troubles. They partake of such morbid ventures as suicide tourism, where the estate holder near the end of life travels to a nation with aid-in-dying laws. Although both Switzerland and the Netherlands, according to the Wall Street Journal, both allow doctors to aid in suicide, only Switzerland will allow this to be extended to visitors from an additional country.

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Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703609004575355572928371574.html
Oh yeah? Well, Bill Gates’ dad likes it!
youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_jxLKbbDo