In a letter from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, regarding the Death Tax Repeal Act, which repeals the estate tax permanently, she states that she voted for the repeal to save us all from the heinous taxes that will be placed on all our estates when we die. She claims that we are all selling our small businesses and farms before we die to keep from paying the tax and that we have already paid our taxes.
She does not explain that the federal estate tax exemption for 2015 is set at $5.43 million per person. She does not mention that the gift exclusion is $14,000 a year and that each person can make as many of these tax-free gifts as they want to avoid taxes. They can also make financial gifts for such things as medical needs, tuition, etc., with no limit and no taxes will be paid on those gifts. There are other ways to exempt our money from the estate tax that are used all the time by wealthy people.
I think most of us do not have an estate worth $5.43 million plus gift exemptions. This is another gift to the wealthy from the GOP, a cut to the federal government’s income, and Herrera Beutler voted for it.
Melanie Kenoyer
Vancouver
