Article on Capital Gains

Robert L. Moshman (attorney, New York & New Jersey) recently published his article entitled Capital Gains Paradox, The Estate Analyst (Mar. 2011). An excerpt from the begining of the article is below:

Have capital gains become a threatened and endangered species?

Can the size of future estates be projected accurately? If an estate’s assets appreciate in value, which capital gains tax breaks apply? Which of those tax breaks will still be available five years from now? What does it all mean?

The paradox of establishing financial plans that can exploit future gains and current tax rules is that there may be no gains, and the tax breaks that apply now may be gone by the time they are needed.