Federal Estate And Gift Taxes Recommendations For Modifications In The System Of Taxing Estates And Gifts

Use this comprehensive guide as a course supplement or as a refresher for members of the bar. Expert commentary summarizes the law and offers critical evaluation on the essentials of estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax planning, and reform proposals and fundamental alternatives to the current transfer tax system. Additional chapters cover annuities; inclusion and valuation; exemptions and exclusions; deductions; and tax liabilities.

Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.