Sen. Bernie
Sanders, I-Vt., introduced legislation today to establish a progressive estate
tax on the fortunes of the top 0.2 percent of Americans and significantly
increase rates on billionaires.
Sanders said his
legislation, the For the 99.8% Act, would raise $2.2 trillion from the nation's
588 billionaires. The proposal comes two days after Senate Republican
leadership proposed a bill to repeal the estate tax.
"At a time of
massive wealth and income inequality, when the three richest Americans own more
wealth than 160 million Americans, it is literally beyond belief that the Republican
leadership wants to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to
the top 0.2 percent," Sanders said. "Our bill does what the American
people want by substantially increasing the estate tax on the wealthiest
families in this country and dramatically reducing wealth inequality."
Sanders' bill would
only apply to the wealthiest 0.2 percent of Americans. It would establish a 45
percent tax on the value of an estate between $3.5 million and $10 million; a
50 percent tax on the value of an estate between $10 million and $50 million; a
55 percent tax on the value of an estate in excess of $50 million; and a 77
percent tax on the value of an estate above $1 billion – a return to the top
rate from 1941 through 1976.
Good
For Life Insurance
The life insurance
industry receives a good amount of business from the estate tax, LIMRA found in
a 2017 survey.
Survivorship life
insurance is intended to pay federal estate taxes and other estate-settlement
costs owed after both spouses pass away. It represents approximately 4 percent
of the life insurance market and 10 percent of premium for companies who offer
it annually, LIMRA found.
Sen. John Thune,
R-S.D., introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act earlier this week. It would repeal
the federal estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer tax.
It would make
permanent a maximum 35 percent gift tax rate and the lifetime gift-tax
exemption, indexed for inflation. It would maintain the stepped-up basis rule
under current law.
Sanders said his
bill would close tax loopholes that have allowed billionaire families to pass
fortunes from one generation to the next without paying taxes.
The Walton family,
the wealthiest family in America, would get up to a $63 billion tax break from
the Republican proposal, Sanders said, while they would owe an estate tax of up
to $130 billion under his proposal.
InsuranceNewsNet
Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20
years of daily journalism. John may be reached
at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.
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