"Merry Christmas — to those of you on the Forbes Magazine list of 400 billionaires. There is a very big present for you under the Christmas tree. However, you cannot open it until January 1, 2010. Congress loves Ya, Baby. It does not look like Congress will pass a temporary extension or permanent extension of the Estate Tax this year.
With the ‘silent’ repeal of the Generation Skipping Tax, it is highly probable that at least one member on the Forbes 400 will save $1 billion in estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer taxes. I think I am being conservative in my estimate. Other members on the list may only save hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. Congress did pass the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax legislation in 1970s and again 1980s.
Yet, here we are verge of the repeal of the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax and there is silence about this issue. One would think that at least a few members of Congress would be upset and making comments about this enormous tax break for the wealthy. There is a trillion dollar deficit in the federal budget. If for no other reason, you would think that someone in Congress would show some concern....."
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"One of the tax breaks is the postponement of taxes for decades when generation skipping trusts are established in 2010 during the potential time-break in the estate and generation skipping transfer tax laws...."
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