Clinton proposes 65 percent tax on U.S.
billionaire estates
Send a link to a friend
[September 23, 2016]
By Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S.
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday proposed raising taxes
on inherited property to 65 percent for the largest estates as she
bolstered plans for tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans.
Known by conservative opponents as the "death tax," the estate tax,
levied on property such as cash, real estate, stock or other assets
transferred from deceased persons to heirs, currently is imposed only on
inherited assets worth $5.45 million or more for an individual.
Clinton's plan, posted on her campaign's website, would raise the estate
tax from the current 40 percent to 45 percent, the rate that existed in
2009. But the biggest estates would face rates of up to 65 percent for
property valued at more than $500 million for a single person or $1
billion per couple, under her proposal, an update of an earlier plan.
Clinton's proposed top rate of 65 percent would be the highest estate
tax since the 1980s, and is in line with a proposal made during the
Democratic primaries by her former rival for the party's presidential
nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
Her campaign said the boosted estate tax and a change in the rules to
tax capital gains associated with inherited assets would help pay for
other proposals to benefit middle-class people, such as expanding a tax
credit for working parents.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/23/images/ads/current/lincolntheatre_sda_031016.png)
Clinton's campaign said the plan would hit only the wealthiest people.
"Hillary Clinton has made a commitment throughout this campaign to make
sure there is a plan to pay for the progressive policies we have laid
out," said Mike Shapiro, an economic adviser to Clinton.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group
focused on budget issues, said Clinton's new tax proposals including the
estate tax changes, taxes on capital gains of inherited assets and other
provisions would together raise $260 billion in revenue over a decade.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/092316pics/news_x47.jpg)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a
campaign event at the Frontline Outreach and Youth Center in
Orlando, U.S. September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/23/images/ads/current/brickey_lda_061314.png)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a wealthy real estate
developer, wants to eliminate the estate tax. Clinton's proposal
prompted criticism from conservatives ahead of her first debate with
Trump on Monday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, issued a statement decrying
Clinton's "dramatic hike in the death tax."
Republicans want to eliminate estate taxes altogether because they
believe the system penalizes families who want to pass down
businesses, said U.S. Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the
tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
Brady said in a statement that Clinton's plan was "dead on arrival."
The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said this
month that only the estates of the wealthiest 0.2 percent of
Americans, about two out of every 1,000 people who die, currently
owe any estate tax because the first $5.45 million per person is
exempt. Clinton would lower that exemption to $3.5 million.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson, Steve Holland and Amanda Becker;
Editing by Will Dunham)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/23/images/ads/current/garage_sale_bch.png) |