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A Couple of Senators, Who Probably Aren’t Yankee Fans, Are Making a Run at This Estate Tax Problem

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

John Kyl and Blanche Lincoln must have figured that they could not allow one more billionaire (without naming names) get away with dodging the estate tax. The two Senators have introduced a proposal that would set the exemption at $5 million with a tax rate of 35%:

The proposal would require the Senate Finance Committee to amend H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending bill, to permanently set the estate tax rate at 35 percent, with a $5 million exemption amount phased in over 10 years and indexed for inflation. It would also provide a “stepped up basis” for inherited assets.

“It’s time to take decisive action on the estate tax, and provide the permanent solution that Arkansas’s hardworking farmers and small businesses are desperately seeking,” Lincoln said. “Uncertainty in the estate tax law has caused incredible difficulties for these individuals, which is why I have fought for a quick resolution to the issue that is both permanent and fair. One way to improve upon an already strong legislative initiative that includes tax incentives and a number of other benefits for small businesses is to ensure that we reach a permanent solution on the estate tax to provide small business owners and famers with the certainty they need.”

See how she slipped in the “farmers”? “Small Businesses”? You sure this doesn’t have anything to do with a certain savvy billionaire who figured, “Yeah, 80 is a nice round number. Let’s do this.”

But they’ve got a plan! “The Lincoln-Kyl proposal provides an election for deceased taxpayers to either retain this year’s estate tax rate, which is zero percent with “carry over basis,” or file under the provisions of the new bill.”

[h/t TaxProf]

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How disparaging? How about “two-thirds of the tax returns are wrong” disparaging:

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Man Attempts to Pay $6,400 Tax with Kiddie Pool Full of Pennies

God bless our friends to the North. If you can’t have a sense of humor about this stuff, you’re likely to do something stupid like, say, join the Tea Party:

A Quebec man, fed up with his skyrocketing property taxes, carted more than 200,000 pennies down to City Hall to pay his bill. But he was denied, and asked to simply cut a cheque.

Normand Czepial of Ripon, Que. — less than an hour’s drive northeast of Gatineau — arrived at City Hall on Wednesday with a children’s pool filled with 213,625 pennies.


Now we’re wondering – did Normand roll into his bank that morning to make the withdrawal and demand the smallest denomination possible or had he been saving all the copper coins his entire life for this exact moment?

Whichever it is, we applaud this particular brand of awesome. The only beef we have this move is that he used the kiddie pool to schelp the pennies down to City Hall. What the hell, man? Depriving your kids of fun in the middle of summer? Sure you’re a little bit of smartass (which we like) but it appears also a bit of dick in the Dad Department. Not cool.

Czepial’s property tax bill reportedly rose by nearly $4,000 dollars last year to $6,400. Czepial tried to pay with pennies to protest the hike.

Ripon Mayor Luc Desjardins was surprised to see the stunt, but had to tell Czepial to find another way to pay his bill.

Under the Currency Act, nobody is obliged to accept more than 25 pennies as payment for any product or service. Normand Czepial, unfortunately, was 213,600 over the limit.

Even the Toronto Sun is throwing around the jokes! Everyone that is threatening to move to Canada given a particular election of [insert hated political figure] should take note that it sounds kinda fun up there!

Man tries to pay tax with 200,000 pennies [Toronto Sun via TaxProf]