Rollback of LePage’s estate tax cut for multi-millionaires would raise $14 million

The estate tax threshold is currently set at $5.8 million for any individual who has property in Maine, meaning that up to $5.8 million of a person’s “estate” can be passed on after death without any taxation.

According to report author and MECEP policy analyst Sarah Austin, 60 percent of all household wealth in the United States is inherited. “That means more than half of all wealth is held not because of anything the holders did to build that wealth, but because of who they know or to whom they are related.”

“Decades of policy decisions have excluded more and more high-wealth estates from the tax,” notes the report, published last week. “These cuts have accelerated the growth of wealth inequality and perpetuated the divide across generations.”

Click here to read the full story, first published March 2, 2020, in Beacon.