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by technothrasher 611 days ago
> Only very, very rich people pay any estate taxes in the first place because a couple's estate tax exemption is currently over $27 million.

That's federal estate tax. State tax can be different. Massachusetts, for example, has estate taxes on over $2M ($4M for a couple who manages their estate plan wisely).
2 comments
potato3732842 611 days ago
State estate tax is just a tax on people who are ignorant of it, unwilling to plan for it or who's relationship with their heir(s) is too dysfunctional to dodge it. The rich almost always avoid it. The poor are never subject to it.

It's like greasing a couple rungs in the middle of the economic ladder IMO. I'm not a fan.

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vel0city 611 days ago
Massachusetts requires estates worth $1M+ to report for estate taxes. There's something like a $60k exemption and then it's a progressive rate system.

Based on what I'm seeing, a $2M Massachusetts estate would have $50k of estate taxes to pay, a 2.5% effective tax rate.

In the end though only 12 states have an estate tax, and Massachusetts has the lowest threshold and highest rates.

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