Monday, October 18, 2010

The State of the Estate Tax

As we head into the home stretch of this election season, one issue that hangs in the balance for a new Congress to tackle is the estate tax. As you probably know, there is no estate tax for 2010, but it is scheduled to return in 2011, at a rate of 55 percent on estates valued at more than $1 million. But neither party seems comfortable with letting this situation stand. There are several proposals that may come into play, depending on who wins control of Congress in November:

* The most visible Democratic proposal, from Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana, would set the new estate tax to its 2009 levels: a rate of 45 percent, with an exemption of $3.5 million.

* On the Republican side, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has suggested raising the exemption level to estates worth more than $5 million, and lower the tax to 35 percent.

* More than 250 congressional candidates, primarily Republicans, have pledged to permanently repeal the estate tax.

So that's three possibilities that are out there. We've got a new article on the Echelon Wealth Strategies Web site discussing how the estate tax got to this point, where it's headed, and what it means to you. To read the article, just click here.

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