Technology Slice Blog

Estate Tax Deal - On December 6, 2010, President Obama announced that a tentative deal has been reached with Republicans to extend the Bush Tax Cuts. Significantly, the estate tax would come back in 2011, but at an exemption and rate that many Republicans have been arguing for. Under the deal, the estate tax exemption would be up to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for couples. The tax rate would be at 35%. The exemption and rate would be in effect for two years. American Farm Bureau Federation has been backing a $5 million exemption and a 35% tax rate. This is the exemption and rate that was proposed by Sens. Blanche Lincoln [D-AR] and John Kyl [R-AZ]. But many Democrats are opposed to a tax rate of 35%. Just a few days ago, Sen. Baucus proposed legislation with a permanent estate tax rate of 45% and an exemption of $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples. Sen. Baucus’ proposal failed to get the 60 votes in the Senate that are needed to break a fil...

Estate Tax Could Return - If you were a billionaire, 2010 was the year to die. That's because there was no estate tax. Next year, well, that's still up in the air. In a nutshell, the estate tax is a tax on what you leave behind -- your house, any savings you have, stocks and bonds, your entire financial package. Under the Bush tax cuts, in 2009, $3.5 million of your estate was exempt. Whatever was left after that was taxed at a top rate of 45 percent. The way the law was written, the tax would expire in 2010 unless Congress came to an agreement to extend it. They didn't. And as a result of their inaction, some of the largest estates left behind in 2010 went untaxed, meaning the government lost out on a lot of money. "Billions. Billions of dollars. Just the Steinbrenner estate alone the government lost out on a half a billion dollars," explains Alan Kahn of the AJK Financial Group. The year 2011 could be a very different story. If Congress again does nothing...