Wealth Transfer Taxes — What Could the Future Hold?

The latest edition of The Tax Lawyer  contains an article entitled Report on Reform of Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes prepared by the Task Force on Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes.  Although only members of the ABA may download the full version of the article, the 37 page executive summary is freely available.

As Prof. Paul L. Caron noted on the Tax Prof Blog:

     Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley R-Iowa) stated:

Taxwriters will be working quickly toward repealing the estate tax, or at least permanently raising the exemption level and lowering the rates. “We’re going to be looking for a compromise to get 60 votes on because probably it’s more important to have permanency in this area,” he said.

    Democrats appear willing to accept this compromise:

Although the majority of Democrats do not support a full repeal, talking points released on February 1 indicated they may be amenable to a compromise. “Democrats support reforming the estate tax so that small business men and women as well as farmers and ranchers aren’t affected,” the release read.

Special thanks to Robert Schwartz for suggesting this blog entry.