Some wealthy Americans are scrambling to change their estate plans before the end of the year in case Joe Biden wins the presidency, reports Axios.
Biden has proposed raising taxes for wealthy Americans and reducing taxes for low income earners. His campaign floated a top income tax rate of 39.6% (up from 37%) for those earning more than $400,000 along with a tax increase on capital gains to 39.6% for those making more than $1 million a year — almost double the current rate.
Biden also wants to lower the amount most Americans can give tax-free to their spouses and heirs — the current cap is $23 million, but he wants to cut that in half.
"People are making extraordinary gifts before the end of the year, getting those amounts out of their estate," says Joe Maier, an estate and succession planning attorney at the Johnson Financial Group in Racine, Wisconsin.
High-net-worth Americans are also setting up trust funds, selling family businesses, and giving large gifts to philanthropies, reports Axios.
"Most of our clients would be impacted by the Biden tax policy in a negative way," Ryan L. Losi, executive vice president of the Richmond, Virginia-based accounting firm PIASCIK, told the news outlet.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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