DO YOU LOVE YOUR HEIRS ENOUGH TO DIE FOR THEM?
2010 is a great year to die if you love
your heirs
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With Taxes Gone, Will Death Be At A Premium?
By JOSEPH BROWNSTEIN ABC NEWS
Jan. 1, 2010
Well, 2010 has arrived -- and because Congress devoted so much effort
toward health care reform, we may have ourselves
some death panels after all.
With the estate tax gone, death becomes cheaper this year for some
While critics have dismissed Sarah Palin's "death panels"
to dole out medical care as fiction, a tax loophole may
in fact give the heirs of some wealthy people a financial incentive
to
make this new year their loved one's last. In 2001, then-President
George W. Bush signed a law designed to phase out the estate tax --
a
tax on the assets a deceased individual leaves behind. The law reduced
the amount wealthy families were taxed after death starting in 2001
--
leading to complete abolition of the tax in 2010, but at the
same time
it concerned some because of the financial implications of the date
when
someone died. For example, a wealthy person who dies on January 1,
2011,
and left her heirs $10 million would really be leaving them $5.05
million because of taxes. If they died a day earlier (assuming no
changes were made in tax laws), the heirs could receive the full $10
million. This messy business has not been solved. Not yet. But as
things stand today, if you're rich and old, start eating FUDGE.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HealthCare/lack-estate-tax-2010-now-cheaper-die/story?id=9412614
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