Death and Taxes

In the year 2008, the Federal Estate Tax exemption is $2 million for an individual. In 2009, the exemption will increase to $3.5 million. And if I had to pick the year to pass my Estate to my heirs, it would have to be 2010! That year the tax is repealed! In recent years, where did the argument on the depletion of Social Security go? We haven’t made any reform in that area as well! Hopefully these two very different subjects will not find a common ground, with one feeding off of the other! I grew up thinking that Social Security was a tax! We are already taxing Social Security! Wouldn’t tapping the Estate Tax to fund Social Security, that is ultimately taxed again, be a four or five times tax? Whoa! One thing is for sure; nothing is ever for certain and everything changes!

As families, we all need to think about our own investments, and our own accounting methods to hedge the threat of taxation. It’s a dependence on other individuals and countries that has caused the budget and trade deficits, while we await the government to care for us in retirement! Whether it is an Estate Tax exemption, a Social Security check, Medicare, or any other supposed entitlement, we should all strive to take care of ourselves! Now, an old General Store with a side business of horseshoeing and 100 acres of vegetables doesn’t sound too terribly awful!