But the combination of the 65% estate tax and the change to capital-gains rules could lead to significant increases in effective tax rates at death on some people-including, for example, Mr. Trump, who claims a net worth of $10 billion, though independent estimates put it lower.
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The Clinton campaign fired back at the Trump campaign’s statement, saying that Clinton’s taxes would increase under her proposals and criticizing Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.
Clinton had already proposed to raise estate tax rates on some millionaires to 45 percent.
But given the current makeup of Congress, it seems unlikely that Clinton’s reforms will come to pass: “House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to eliminate the estate tax altogether”, as Slate observes.
The new level was the target previously suggested by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her rival in the Democratic primary.
Hillary Clinton rebutted him on this: “He would, by eliminating the estate tax, save the Trump family $4 billion, and do absolutely nothing for 99.8 percent of all Americans”.
Aides said the revenue would be necessary to cover the cost of additional government programs the former secretary of State has proposed.
On Friday, Trump railed against Clinton’s proposal, noting that nothing brings Republicans together like their commitment to concentrating wealth in the hands of a parasitic class of silver-spoon-sucking rentiers with bad hobbies. But now she’s getting even more aggressive on one way to soak the very richest in particular: the estate tax, levied on money passed down from the wealthy to their heirs.
The latest changes are part of a series of tax increases Mrs. Clinton has rolled out to pay for targeted tax cuts and for increased spending.
Mrs. Clinton’s new proposals would also limit like-kind exchanges, the technique commonly used in real estate to defer capital gains when properties are sold.
Clinton’s campaign said the plan would hit only the wealthiest people.
The Clinton/Sanders plan attempts to reverse this trend, but its effects are more modest than they may initially appear.
‘It is the height of hypocrisy for Hillary Clinton to offer an even more dramatic hike in the death tax at the same time she uses exotic tax loopholes reserved for the very wealthy to exempt her Chappaqua estate, ‘ said Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller.
The shrunken version of the estate and gift tax in place in recent years brings in less than 1% of overall federal revenue.
Although Clinton defeated Sanders months ago, she continues to struggle with younger voters.
Clinton’s proposal adopts the Roosevelt principle by including a progressive rate structure-the greater the wealth, the higher the rate.
To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of USA households in wealth.
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When investors get a so-called step-up in basis at death, the inheritors of the assets don’t have to pay capital gains tax. The original incorrectly stated all thresholds for married couple would double.
