[kspaans]

That sounds like a failure of tax & estate planning. If you wait until you are very old to give away your assets you are putting yourself in the pay-the-most-inheritance-tax position. If the daughters had been running the business for decades already, they would have had lots of time to shift the ownership. This isn't an argument against inheritance tax, it's an argument for better education about personal finances.

[ChefDenominator]

Yes, the primary focus of a business owner must be on tax planning, because this generates efficient operations, undoubtedly.

Also, laws change all of the time. My impression, every time I dig down with real people, IRL, is they have the same general opinion as you and others like you here, but have no actual exposure to the actual laws, as they implemented. The only occasion I come across this and I see that the business owner, with a small team tax attorneys and CPAs, can't seem to spend enough money to escape huge taxes.

I can only assume that the business owner is clueless and the Internet anons are the experts he should have hired.

[beagle3]

Actually, a primary focus of a business owner must be on tax planning, because (assuming a successful business) it is going to be their largest expense by far.

Unfortunately, the way tax laws are applied usually makes it impossible to apply in retrospect - you have to build it into the business structure from before day 1; and often the non-monetary cost is prohibitive -- e.g., you can reduce your tax burden by 70% by moving to a different state / country.

As a successful business owner, tax is going to be one of your largest expenses. Makes sense to a major optimization target.

[mbid]

So you're saying it this is not an example against inheritance tax because the family could've used loopholes in the legislation to circumvent paying the tax?