Your Money Is Ours

Hillary Clinton announced an updated estate tax proposal today. After previously supporting an increase in the estate tax rate from 40% to 45% and decreasing the amount of tax free assets to $3.5 million, she now wants to tax estates exceeding $10 million at 50%, estates exceeding $50 million at 55%, and estates exceeding $500 million at 65%. She also wants to remove the stepped up basis provision for estates so appreciated assets would also be subject to capital gains tax at death.

Two quick points without being too political because the proposal speaks for itself:

1. Apparently Hillary believes the Senator Warren adage that "you did not build this" so we are going to tax it mantra.

2. No word from her billionaire buddies Soros, Zuckerberg, Gates, and Buffet on how they feel about the government possibly taking 65% of their wealth and, frankly, I don't give a damn about them.

Old Adult Fiction

A former University of New Hampshire librarian who lived frugally, left his entire $4 million estate to the university. The UNH promptly fulfilled his mostly unrestricted bequest by allocating $100K to the library where he worked (some might say toiled) for 50 years, $1 million for a video scoreboard for the football stadium, and $2.5 million for the career center to presumably assist students with worthless majors like women's studies, anthropology, and fine arts find jobs other than as baristas. 

Several points only marginally associated with estate planning: 

1. By leaving his entire estate to charity, the former librarian will not incur state or federal estate tax. 

2. Even though he spent the last year of his life in an assisted living facility watching (and finally learning about) football, I highly doubt that he would approve of UNH spending $1 million in his name on a video scoreboard for their minor league football team (avg attendance 6,000 last year). I doubt the absence of a video scoreboard is keeping people away. 

3. Although assisting students with job placement after they selected useless majors is a questionable use of one's savings, it is no less worthy than leaving money to a library in the 21st Century when most functions of a library are available on on-line (except for providing a physical warm or cool space for the homeless during the Winter or Summer).

TML Again

I wrote Paul Daugherty's The Morning Line blog again today. I covered UC's Big 12 candidacy, Notre Dame's quarterback situation, and myriad other topics including Bruce Springsteen's forthcoming autobiography. I hope you enjoy it.

Meanest Man Begets Mean Daughter

Sam Huff is an NFL Hall of Fame linebacker who played for the NY Giants and Washington Redskins. He was known as the Meanest Man in the NFL during the 1960's. He is long divorced,has lived with Carol Holden for nearly 30 years, and now suffers from dementia. His daughter picked him up one morning in late March to take him to a dentist appointment and has not returned him to his home. Some might call this kidnapping. The daughter then took him to an attorney to have herself appointed as his health care decision maker (she was already his financial decision maker) and her mother, Huff's ex--wife, as the alternate. She also asked a court to appoint her as his guardian.

Several points:

1. The prior structure of Huff's health care and financial powers of attorneys was what I usually recommend in a second marriage situation - the spouse/partner can make the medical decisions but the child can make the financial decisions.

2. The validity of Huff's new health care power of attorney is certainly questionable given his dementia diagnosis which is further evidenced by him naming his elderly, ex-wife as his alternate decision maker.

3. I am always disappointed at the vitriol that children have towards the second spouse/partner of their parents no matter how long they have been together.

4. It is no surprise that the Meanest Man in the NFL would would have an incredibly mean daughter.