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People participate in a "March on Billionaires" event on July 17, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
How to Hide a Fortune During a Pandemic
The Planning Tools of the Wealth Dynasty Protection Racket
Aug 19, 2020
While some folks are volunteering at the local food bank, the super-wealthy are working to hide their money from future taxation.
It is no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has been very good to the billionaire class. The richest dozen billionaires now have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion. And since March 18, the beginning of the pandemic lock down, the collective wealth of the U.S. billionaire class has increased over $700 billion.
The pandemic, however, has also provided cover for aggressive estate tax avoidance. There is now an orgy of wealth hiding taking place, as wealth planners for the richest 0.1 percent accelerate the planning tools they created over the last two decades to place trillions outside the reach of the estate and gift tax.
IPS Associate Fellow Bob Lord has written a primer to the tools that wealth managers are using to facilitating this wealth vanishing act. His policy brief, "Covid-19, A Perfect Storm for Estate Tax Avoidance," provides a readable overview to the deployment of two planning devices: the Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, or IDGT, and the Granter Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT. Lord explains their workings in his policy brief.
Wealthy families use these planning tools to place billions if not trillions in wealth into "dynasty trusts" and reduce or eliminate their estate and gift tax obligations. According to Lord, it is too late to capture these funds. But one remedy is to put in place an inheritance tax to levy funds as they flow to heirs and beneficiaries of the trusts.
An inheritance tax, such as the one proposed by New York University Law Professor Lily Bachelder, could not be circumvented by trusts designed to avoid estate taxation. As funds flow to recipients, an inheritance tax could serve as a fix and dynasty prevention mechanism.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org. His near future novel "Altar to An Erupting Sun” explores one community’s response to climate disruption. He is author of numerous books and reports on inequality and the racial wealth divide, including “The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions,” “Born on Third Base,” and, with Bill Gates Sr., of “Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why American Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes.” See more of his writing at www.chuckcollinswrites.com
While some folks are volunteering at the local food bank, the super-wealthy are working to hide their money from future taxation.
It is no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has been very good to the billionaire class. The richest dozen billionaires now have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion. And since March 18, the beginning of the pandemic lock down, the collective wealth of the U.S. billionaire class has increased over $700 billion.
The pandemic, however, has also provided cover for aggressive estate tax avoidance. There is now an orgy of wealth hiding taking place, as wealth planners for the richest 0.1 percent accelerate the planning tools they created over the last two decades to place trillions outside the reach of the estate and gift tax.
IPS Associate Fellow Bob Lord has written a primer to the tools that wealth managers are using to facilitating this wealth vanishing act. His policy brief, "Covid-19, A Perfect Storm for Estate Tax Avoidance," provides a readable overview to the deployment of two planning devices: the Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, or IDGT, and the Granter Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT. Lord explains their workings in his policy brief.
Wealthy families use these planning tools to place billions if not trillions in wealth into "dynasty trusts" and reduce or eliminate their estate and gift tax obligations. According to Lord, it is too late to capture these funds. But one remedy is to put in place an inheritance tax to levy funds as they flow to heirs and beneficiaries of the trusts.
An inheritance tax, such as the one proposed by New York University Law Professor Lily Bachelder, could not be circumvented by trusts designed to avoid estate taxation. As funds flow to recipients, an inheritance tax could serve as a fix and dynasty prevention mechanism.
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org. His near future novel "Altar to An Erupting Sun” explores one community’s response to climate disruption. He is author of numerous books and reports on inequality and the racial wealth divide, including “The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions,” “Born on Third Base,” and, with Bill Gates Sr., of “Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why American Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes.” See more of his writing at www.chuckcollinswrites.com
While some folks are volunteering at the local food bank, the super-wealthy are working to hide their money from future taxation.
It is no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has been very good to the billionaire class. The richest dozen billionaires now have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion. And since March 18, the beginning of the pandemic lock down, the collective wealth of the U.S. billionaire class has increased over $700 billion.
The pandemic, however, has also provided cover for aggressive estate tax avoidance. There is now an orgy of wealth hiding taking place, as wealth planners for the richest 0.1 percent accelerate the planning tools they created over the last two decades to place trillions outside the reach of the estate and gift tax.
IPS Associate Fellow Bob Lord has written a primer to the tools that wealth managers are using to facilitating this wealth vanishing act. His policy brief, "Covid-19, A Perfect Storm for Estate Tax Avoidance," provides a readable overview to the deployment of two planning devices: the Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, or IDGT, and the Granter Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT. Lord explains their workings in his policy brief.
Wealthy families use these planning tools to place billions if not trillions in wealth into "dynasty trusts" and reduce or eliminate their estate and gift tax obligations. According to Lord, it is too late to capture these funds. But one remedy is to put in place an inheritance tax to levy funds as they flow to heirs and beneficiaries of the trusts.
An inheritance tax, such as the one proposed by New York University Law Professor Lily Bachelder, could not be circumvented by trusts designed to avoid estate taxation. As funds flow to recipients, an inheritance tax could serve as a fix and dynasty prevention mechanism.
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