f you're a New York multimillionaire, you now have another incentive to stay alive. A change this month in New York's estate tax, which was billed as tax relief for the wealthy, contains a hidden wrinkle that could leave some multimillionaires with a much bigger surprise tax upon their death. Certain estates could even wind up with a tax rate of 164 percent on portions of their estates, according to one tax expert.
The changes were intended to ease the tax bill for wealthy New Yorkers and prevent them from fleeing to lower-tax states. A report from the Tax Foundation found that New York had the highest tax burden in the country as a percentage of state income. It found that New Yorkers spent 12.6 percent of their per capita income in 2011 on state and local taxes.
Instead of lowering the tax bill, the estate tax change could raise it.
"It's nonsensical," said Kevin Matz, an accountant and attorney in White Plains, N.Y. "The governor said this is about making New York a better climate for the wealthy. It's had the opposite effect."
Poster Comment:
Marvin, and the rest of the NYC Tribe, vote for Ds at an app. 90% (+/-) rate. They are the true electoral power base in NYC. Therefore it's fitting that Marvin gets kicked in the nuts (although I have a feeling he and his breatheren will drill a few loop holes in this mess.)
