Currently, the maximum federal estate rate is 35% and estates valued at $5.12 million are exempt from the tax. President Obama would like to raise the maximum rate to 55% and reduce the exemption threshold to $1 million which is what will happen if Congress fails to act. [Note that other reports indicate Pres. Obama would be satisfied with a $3.5 million exemption with a 45% maximum rate.] On the other hand, Mitt Romney is campaigning that he would repeal the tax altogether, explaining that doing so would help farmers with as little as 150 acres of land. Romney’s critics point out that scrapping the estate tax would help Romney and his family.
See Geoff Holtzman, Romney Says He’d Repeal Estate Tax, Talk Radio News, Oct. 9, 2012.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
