Ultrawealthy Americans enjoy so many ways to avoid taxes that Gary Cohn, former President Donald Trumpâs director of the National Economic Council, once wisecracked, âOnly morons pay the estate tax.â
On Monday, a group of four Democratic senators urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to crack down on a host of specially-designed trusts and financial vehicles that allow the wealthiest individuals to shield their personal fortunes and pass down massive inheritances tax-free.
The letter, from Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, and Sheldon Whitehouse, laid out a series of potential IRS regulations that would make trusts, particularly, less attractive as tax shelters for the 1%.
âBillionaires and multi-millionaires use trusts to shift wealth to their heirs tax-free, dodging federal estate and gift taxes,â the senators wrote. âAnd they are doing this in the open: Their wealth managers are bragging about how their tax dodging tricks will be more effective in the current economy.â
Only about 0.1% of Americans pay estate taxes, despite thousands of families having fortunes larger than the current $25.48 million exemption.
You can read more of this Huffington Post article here.