I don't want to be crass, but New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner picked a pretty good time to kick the bucket, because with no federal inheritance taxes, his heirs are saving a boat load of money that would have gone to Uncle Sam.
Congress knew for years that estate taxes were going to phase out in 2010, and then return with a vengeance in 2011.
But lawmakers never did anything about it, and so this year, there is no federal tax on large estates. The Associated Press did a back-of-the-envelope estimate that Steinbrenner's heirs will save over $300 million because of that inaction.
If Steinbrenner had held on until January 1, 2011, then the estate tax would be back, at a rate of 55%.
Lawmakers have been talking for months about how they are going to fix that, but so far, the issue hasn't come up, as Democrats are basically putting off all serious tax matters until after the elections.
Ironically, Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) was talking this week - before Steinbrenner died - about offering a plan on the Senate floor regarding estate tax reform.
But with soaring deficits, the chance of a bipartisan deal on estate taxes seems very remote. If there were a betting window in the Capitol, I would put my money on the 55% tax returning next year, an outcome that won't please many groups who are interested in estate tax reform.
The estate tax is just one of many taxes slated to change on January 1, 2011 as I detailed in one of my other blogs today.
Many made the case earlier this year that Congress could pass a retroactive estate tax, to cover any time this year where the tax had slipped back to zero.
That might have worked in January or February. But now it's mid-July, so that would seem unlikely. I don't want to be crass, but New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner picked a pretty good time to kick the bucket, because with no federal inheritance taxes, his heirs are saving a boat load of money that would have gone to Uncle Sam. Congress knew for years that estate ...
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