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This bill — the For the 99.8% Act — would enact a progressive tax on the estates of the wealthiest Americans and lower the exemption threshold from the estate tax (aka the “death tax”). It would allow estates below $3.5 million per person ($7 million per couple) to pass without the inheritance tax while enacting a sliding tax scale on inheritances over $750,000. This tax scale would have five tiers, increasing the tax rate as the inheritance amount increases. Under current law, individuals can leave up to $11.4 million to heirs through their estates before the money is taxed and amounts above that level are taxed at a 40% tax rate.

Under this bill, the following sliding scale for estates would be enacted:

Estates over $750,000 but not over $3.5 million: tax of $248,300 plus 39% of the excess of the amount over $750,000.
Estates over $3.5 million but not over $10 million: tax of $1,320,800 plus 45% of the excess of the amount of $3.5 million.
Estates over $10 million but not over $50 million: tax of $4,245,800 plus 50% of the excess of the amount over $10 million.
Estates over $50 million but not over $1 billion: tax of $24,245,800 plus 55% of the excess of the amount over $50 million.
Estates over $1 billion: tax of $546,745,800 plus 77% of the excess of the amount over $1 billion.

This bill would also reduce the gift tax exclusion amount to $1 million and increase the value limit for land subject to conservation easements to $2 million. It would also eliminate the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption for certain types of trusts.

Finally, this bill would simplify the gift tax exclusion for annual gifts to make the first $10,000 of any gifts made in a calendar year tax-free. This would include 1) a transfer in a trust, 2) a transfer of an interest in a passthrough entity, 3) a transfer of an interest subject to a prohibition on sale, and 4) any other property transfer that can’t immediately be liquidated by the recipient.

To protect family farms, this bill would allow them to lower their assessed value on farmland by up to $3 million.

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The bill increases (1) to $3 million the reduction in valuations of farmland for estate tax purposes and adjusts such increased amount for inflation, and (2) to $2 million the maximum estate tax exclusion for contributions of conservation easeme...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Estate tax; estates worth over $3.5 million; taxation on estates worth over $3.5 million; and the gift tax exclusion.","argument_for":"The gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else is exacerbated by the ease of passing assets between generations without any tax implications. Imposing an estate tax on the top estates (those worth over $3.5 million) would increase revenue for the government and ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. ","argument_against":"Death shouldn’t be a taxable event, but this bill would make more American families subject to the estate tax and increase the government’s take from their inheritance. The steep tax rates this bill would impose on the wealthy would encourage them to find loopholes or move out of the U.S. to avoid the tax, both of which hurt economic efficiency. 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My son encouraged me to take action given the current political climate. It's going to be a long four years!","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"tonig","issue_count":8,"is_following":null,"influence_score":450,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":19,"following_count":0,"position_count":173,"id":"LWgrrRr9","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"f562a4f1-9378-4604-81e6-75ce32316286","argument_for":"No doubt","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":0,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/f562a4f1-9378-4604-81e6-75ce32316286"},"body":"No doubt","stance":"yea","created_at":"2019-11-11T18:39:26.749Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/f562a4f1-9378-4604-81e6-75ce32316286.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr4857-116","user_id":"LWgrrRr9","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should the 'Death Tax' Have Progressive Brackets & Apply to More Americans?