Bernie Sanders to propose dramatic expansion in estate tax on richest Americans ...

including 77 percent rate on billionaires

Sanders’s “For the 99.8% Act" would target the wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates.

By Jeff Stein January 31 at 8:30 AM

Excerpts:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will unveil a plan Thursday to dramatically expand the federal estate tax on the wealthy, including a new 77 percent rate on billionaires' estates, as leading Democratic politicians push new taxes on the richest Americans to combat inequality.

Sanders’s bill, the “For the 99.8% Act,” would tax the estates of the 0.2 percent of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million, while the rest of the country “would not see their taxes go up by one penny under this plan,” according to aides to the Vermont senator, who is considering a 2020 presidential bid.

Sanders’s plan would reverse the decades-long decline in estate taxes. It would levy a 45 percent estate tax on those with $3.5 million to $10 million; a 50 percent tax on those with $10 million to $50 million; a 55 percent tax on those with $50 million to $1 billion; and a 77 percent tax on those with more than $1 billion.

The legislation also aims to crack down on loopholes that allow fortunes to be passed down with lower taxes, including by preventing wealthy families from avoiding certain taxes through annuity trusts. To prevent the new tax from hitting farmers, the Sanders plan would also allow farmers to reduce the value of their farms by $3 million — up from $1.1 million under current law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/01/31/bernie-sanders-propose-dramatic-expansion-estate-tax-richest-americans-including-percent-rate-billionaires/