A single wealthy taxpayer recently paid $50 million in estate taxes to the District of Columbia. The tax payment was so large that it accounted for a sizable portion of the $417 million budget surplus for the 2012 fiscal year. The city has not released the name of the decedent but there have been some guesses as to his or her identity. Some people guess that the taxpayer might be Sidney Harman, who was the founder of Harman International Industries. Mr. Harman passed away in 2011 with an estimated net worth of $500 million. After taking into consideration the unified credit and the applicable estate tax rate, Harman would have probably owed about $50 million in estate taxes.
See Michael Neibauer, Mystery Taxpayer Responsible For D.C.‘s $50M Estate Tax Windfall, Washington Business Journal, Jan. 30, 2013.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
