How Wal-Mart's Waltons Maintain Their Billionaire Fortune: Taxes

[CarrieLynne]

How Wal-Mart's Waltons Maintain Their Billionaire Fortune: Taxes

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wal-marts-waltons-maintain-billionaire-040100941.html

America's richest family, worth more than $100 billion, has exploited a variety of legal loopholes to avoid the estate tax, according to court records and Internal Revenue Service filings obtained through public-records requests. The Waltons' example highlights how billionaires deftly bypass a tax intended to make sure that the nation's wealthiest contribute their share to government rather than perpetuate dynastic wealth, a notion of fairness voiced by supporters of the estate tax like Warren Buffett and William Gates Sr.

Estate and gift taxes raised only about $14 billion last year. That's about 1 percent of the $1.2 trillion passed down in America each year, mostly by the very rich, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers estimated in a December blog post on Reuters.com. The contrast suggests "our estate tax system is broken," he wrote.

Tax Evasion is a standard business practice these days - didnt it used to be a crime? lol

[PoliticAverse]

1. It's not because it's 'avoidance' not 'evasion' in most cases.

The estate-tax issue is another example how government policy benefits the very rich at the same time as hurting those
with much less assets. The very rich can afford very good legal/tax advisors that help them legally bypass estate taxes
(usually though some type of trust).

[gopiscrap]

2. Like I said before, nationalize businesses!!!

[gopiscrap]

3. Hey I have been meaning to write to you

life has been busy, will get a letter off on email....

[CarrieLynne]

4. okies :)