ESPN, the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports, posted an article titled Family of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner might face tax battle – ESPN New York. As my loyal reader(s) may recall, this is something I touched on a few months ago in a short post which was cleverly titled: Certainties: Death – Yes, Taxes – Probably, Death Taxes – Depends.
The ESPN article points out that there are legislators attempting to enact legislation which would allow for the retroactive collection of estate taxes. This hardly seems fair or, as attorneys like to say, equitable. We are governed by the rule of law. The current laws read that there are no estate taxes due for deaths that occur in the year 2010. If Congress wanted to require the payment of estate taxes it had years to get something done before the repeal kicked in. They failed to do so. It is also their inaction which will allow the estate tax to pick back up in 2011 with lower exclusion amounts and higher rates than the year 2009. At least we know the rules and can plan for 2011.
