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| Please keep this civil and from being a boiler room topic. A simple thought: What if the estate tax was lowered to 10%. Period. No exemptions. I know, I know....we all pay taxes all our lives, then have to pay again to die. I think we can all agree that estate taxes are not going away, so just hear me out. Lower them to 10%. Next, what if medicare had to be reimbursed from one's estate before any distributions to heirs. In other words, keep track of how much money is spent through medicare over a person's lifetime (from 65 on) and deduct that amount from a person's estate to pay off the medicare bill. Statistics show that the most money is spent on healthcare the last few months/days of life.
I see several advantages:
-The 10% estate tax could go to pay for those without an estate.
-This would encourage saving, knowing that there may be a chance now(unlike with a 55% estate tax) of passing savings on to heirs.
-This could reduce frivolous medical tests. Patients would refuse them, knowing that they now have to reimburse medicare costs.
-Accountants and lawyers (in other words, most lawmakers- they have to buy in to this) would still get their cut handling the paperwork.
-Good health and good habits are rewarded. If you don't need that quadruple by-pass, then good for you.
-For those that say we need an estate tax to keep money/assets moving, this would still do that.
Here is what we do know.... it isn't working the way it is. Could use some tweaking.....
Again, please keep this civil.
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Idea to solve the death tax and medicare
