President Obama’s proposal to eliminate step-up basis has some questioning whether a compromise is in the works, or should be, that would also eliminate the estate tax. The argument being focused on one of fairness. That eliminating step-up basis and the estate tax would address the complaints that it is unfair to arbitrarily tax, or not tax, at death in a way that would be treated differently otherwise, by taxing the wealth a second time at death through the estate tax and not taxing the appreciated value of assets at death through step-up basis.
See, The Great Estate Tax Debate: Should it Stay or Go?, Producers Web, Jan. 26, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
