The Associated Press reports that former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner picked a good time to die:
Born on the Fourth of July, George Steinbrenner left the world stage with a great sense of timing too.
By dying in 2010, the billionaire and long-time New York Yankees owner’s wealth avoids the federal estate tax, likely saving his heirs enough money to field an entire team of Alex Rodriguezes.
Steinbrenner’s death Tuesday came during an unplanned year-long gap in the estate tax, the first since it was enacted in 1916. Political wrangling has stalemated efforts in Congress to replace the tax that expired in 2009.
That deprives the government of billions of dollars in annual revenue but represents an unexpected bonanza for those who inherit wealth.
“If you’re super-wealthy, it’s a good year to die,” said Jack Nuckolls, an attorney and estate planner with the accounting firm BDO Seidman. “It really is.”
And make no mistake, Steinbrenner was super-wealthy:
Forbes magazine has estimated Steinbrenner’s estate at $1.1 billion. The federal estate tax in 2009 was 45 percent, with the $3.5 million per-person exemption. If he had died last year, his estate could thus have faced federal taxes of almost $500 million, depending on how the estate was structured.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Nathan Cafearo // Jul 14, 2010 at 11:48 am
That’s such a lot of cash. I wonder how much the government has lost and will lose in total this year due to this.
2 Peter // Jul 15, 2010 at 7:52 am
Nathan,
The estate tax is not a big revenue raiser.
The debate is about principle.
The right think’s the tax is a confiscatory double tax imposed on people who are no longer able to dispute it.
The left thinks the tax is necessary to help stop concentrations of great wealth.
3 Geoff-UK // Jul 26, 2010 at 12:00 am
Maybe we could let families keep the wealth they accumulate, and the govt could stop GIVING wealthy people and investment banks money when they make risky investments like sub-prime mortgages.
4 Peter // Jul 27, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Geoff,
Maybe.
And maybe we could stop encouraging irresponsible deadbeats to borrow money for homes that are way out of their league.
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