Bacus Bill

Bacus Bill

Money Matters Radio – Estate Planning Q&A with Gary Goldberg

By: Martin M. Shenkman, Esq.

Introduction/Overview: A bill was proposed by Bacus in the Senate to revise
the estate tax rules.

It was defeated why do we care?

The Bacus bill is probably a great glimpse where the estate tax is
going.

What are some of its provisions?

45% rate and $3.5 million exclusion with inflation indexing. It also
includes portability.

What’s portability?

If you die and don’t use your exclusion your surviving spouse can.

Sounds great and simple but it will cause people to be lax and avoid the
planning they should do. There is also a lot of complexity, what if your
surviving spouse remarries? What if inflation kicks up asset values on what you
leave your spouse? It ignores the myriad of non-tax reasons for trusts.