Category Archives: estate tax

Pulling The Plug

Movement Grows To Save The Rich
Wealthy In Danger From Heirs 
Due To Estate Tax Gap
Richieville News Service – WASHINGTON, D.C.
The movement to save the lives of the elderly rich continues to gain momentum as activists raced to preserve the nation’s wealthiest citizens. The movement seeks to protect the affluent until  a new  estate tax takes effect, putting them out of danger from overeager heirs who might be tempted to rush the natural course of illness or exploit grandpa’s tendency to fall down flights of stairs. 
Congress allowed the estate tax to lapse at the end of 2009, effectively creating a tax holiday during which the super rich can pass along their fortunes tax-free, if they happen to die from some unexplained ailment, freak sailing accident or a falling gargoyle that mysteriously comes loose from the roof of the family mansion. A new tax is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2011, creating an unintended period of peril or a window of opportunity, depending on your point of view.
The effort to save the country’s well-to-do is attracting support from a diverse coalition that includes human rights activists, Republican fundraisers, opponents of assisted suicide and many of the rich themselves, including Chauncy B. Veneering III, a 89-year-old Denver billionaire. Mr. Veneering, who made his vast fortune by investing in deep water oil rigs, spoke to this reporter by phone from an undisclosed location. “I never thought I’d say this, but I wish that tax would start right now. I’ve got five children and 13 grandkids and they’re all looking at me like  it’s Thanksgiving dinner and I’m the turkey.”
Leaders of the country’s public employee unions are also considering throwing their weight behind the efforts to save the rich, if only temporarily. “We just want them to hang on until the tax is in place,” said Eddie Gompers, recently laid off from his state job in California. “After January 1 they can kick off anytime, as long as we get our cut.”

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