Speaker John Boehner wants to eliminate the federal estate tax, which he and many other Republicans label the “Death Tax.” Republicans in Congress often bemoan the family farms and small business wiped out by this tax.
Here are the facts. The federal tax currently applies to estates worth more than $5.43 million for an individual or $10.86 million for a couple. Assets above those levels are taxed at rates up to 40%. The tax applies to just 0.2% of the deaths anticipated in the U.S. In 2013 approximately 20 (that’s right, 20) small business and small farms owed any estate taxes, and those were taxed at a rather low average of 5%.
The beneficiaries of an elimination of the estate tax would be the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans. The tax will generate about a quarter of a trillion dollars from that small group. And that is the group the Republican Congress members are proud to represent.
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