Reply to This story of loan forgiveness does not sit well with me

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s infuriating. I know some people personally who quit their good paying… but “boring”… jobs to pursue their passions and now live off welfare. At least they don’t live near me so I know my money isn’t going to them [/quote]

Funny how people get infuriated at people with modest incomes scamming the system but shrug their shoulders at people scamming billions of dollars from taxpayer coffers.

The late billionaire Sheldon Adelson, for example, used a complicated trust mechanism called a “grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT)” to “pass on $7.9 billion to his children while avoiding $2.8 billion in gift and estate taxes.” [/quote]

All smart wealthy people use trusts (and other means) to legally pass on their estates while avoiding estate taxes.  Fact is that money was already taxed once, there is absolutely no reason it should be taxed again to transfer it to your kids.  Fact is there are plenty of legal ways to avoid this and have been for decades.

We earned our money, 95%+ of it as W2 income and taxed at the highest rate.  Absolutely no reason for the govt to take 40-50% (fed and state) of it when we die.

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That's your opinion, not a fact.  Plenty of advanced economies tax estates at a far higher rate, and their societies are more equal and more harmonious for it. My opinion is that we don't need to have billionaires passing on the bulk of their megafortunes to their heirs tax free while there are hungry children in America who could benefit from better social welfare supports.[/quote]

See above.  Happy to pay my taxes once.  I've paid more in State taxes in a SINGLE year than most people will earn in a lifetime.  I've already contributed to social welfare programs and happily support them.  I'm not a billionaire totally avoiding taxes.  Most of our income is W2 or interest and some cap gains.  We have no way to shelter it legally, so we pay high taxes yearly.  I donate to several organizations of my choosing to locally support at an even better level.  But still do not support the govt taxing my money a 2nd time and will utilize all tools possible to avoid that.

I also still believe people should take some responsibility for themselves, and that includes not overpaying for college and expecting others to subsidize you.  When it is totally possible to get a good education that is AFFORDABLE.

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Sigh.  When money is transferred, it is taxed.  Whether that's 1099 income, W-2 income, dividends, gambling winnings, or inheritance.  When your money is transferred to your kids, it ceases to become your money, and becomes theirs.  Hence, it is transferred, and therefore taxed.  It *already* receives significant tax preferences - a tax exemption up to a defined amount, and then a lower tax rate than ordinary income.

The "double taxation" argument is made by people who either know better but are advancing an agenda, or are easily gulled by simplistic talking points.  [/quote]

Sure a portion is "protected" at federal level. Soon to be about 50% of that reduced.

Also, anything over $500,001 is taxed at 37%+ (and any over $1M is 40%), so I'd argue that most is taxed at Higher rate than regular income taxes.  Given that the max tax rate is currently 37% Then some states start as low as only $1-2M protected.  In my state, first M is 10% and it gradually increases to anything $9M+ is 20%.  So yes, I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure my kids don't have to pay 59% taxes on the money we give them upon death.  It will be in a trust and also given yearly while alive to take full benefits of not taxing the money for "the death transfer".   Call it whatever you want, but once I earn the money, I should be able to transfer it to my family without having to pay a transfer tax.

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