This article was originally published in ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1393445
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1393445
There is a culture that makes a habit of looking down for villains instead of looking up.
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Don’t be pissed about their lack of taxation, be pissed they aren’t fixing the tax code that allows it.
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We are in a de facto aristocracy. If I recall correctly the Second Estate in France didn’t pay taxes either.
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I believe @castor_troy had a good solution; require a minimum taxable distribution just like the working stiffs are required to do after a certain age.
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Just like you turn 72 and have to realize part of the account each year, if you turn one billion, do the same.
If we do it with IRAs, can do it with the rest of the market.
Now, they’ll still find somewhere else to hide money like private islands and whatnot, but would be an improvement.
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“…showed that both employed a loophole, which was accidentally created by Congress, to escape estate and gift taxes.”
Was it “accidentally”?
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Ultimately, probably not. But it might have been accidental on the part of the Congresspersons passing the law. They were told they should include the provisions that led to allowing the GRATs to exist, quite possibly without understanding what they would actually do.
To be the perfect politician, you would have to be a consummate expert in every field touched by laws and since that isn’t practical, the actual pols have to rely on help and advice from actual subject matter experts, some of whom might be pushing their own agendas.
Those tend to be small, and wouldn’t take an entire USMC amphibious assault vessel crew to … “secure”. (I get the impression the Corps is feeling like they have something to prove … it’s a good training opportunity.
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