Pennsylvania's Inheritance Tax ... it's illogical, unconstitutional and should be abolished

Pittsburgh Tribune Review ^ | March 24, 2002 | C.J. Durkin

[Dukie]

With the calendar page soon turning to April, we once more visit the days when we pause and reflect, mostly in head shaking disbelief, at the amount of our labor is which is appropriated by way of income taxes. While the sage once remarked on the certainty of death and taxes, he may not have appreciated the linkage of these phenomenon in the form of Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax law.

[Dukie]

Further illustration of the repugnance of "death taxes"

[Dukie]

Thank you for your suggestion and enouragement in this bb.

[Dukie]

Good morning, Joanie.

Bump for a fellow keystone state constitutionalist.

[Dukie]

Something of local significance for your consideration.

[Dukie]

A local matter of questionable constitutionality for your consideration.

[Dales]

You will get no argument from me. My two least favorite types of taxes are (in order) property taxes (which destroy the concept of private property and turns "owners" into "renters from the government") and inheritance taxes.

[Dukie]

Can't forget you good keystone staters in this matter of questionable constitutionality.

[Portnoy]

Anyone who expects to pay high Inheritance Taxes should check into their local charities, non-profits or community foundations.

Many larger non-profits have excellent planned giving programs that will help support them and also give you a very substantial tax break off of the "Death Taxes".

In fact, if done properly, you may not have to pay hardly any taxes at all. Your favorite Non-profit organization AND you benefit.

[Dales]

I just noticed the author's name. Bump!

[Dukie]

Thanks for your comment, Dales. A recent situation in my life focuses my attention on this business. Are you going the badray's think tank this evening ?

[Still Thinking]

I just don't understand it. They pass a law that financially punishes people for dying and the people keep dying anyway! Go figure.

[Dukie]

A bump for several legal scholars.

[MinuteGal]

The author of this well-written piece sadly doesn't know the difference between "looser" and "loser". He must be a freeper.

:-)

Leni

[Dukie]

I like your thinking. At one point this state had on its license plates the sloagan:"You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania". As it turns out, it's the kind of friend whose parting act is to skim a cut for himself.

[Dukie]

Ya know what can happen between editors, typesetters, etc.

[Dales]

What are friends for? (Where's my cut?)

[Russ]

It doesn't surprise me that the statute ignores Article 8, section 1 of the Pennsylvania constitution. The legislature and courts also ignore Article 1, Section 21 which states: "The right of the citizen to bear arms in the defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned"

It seems like the Pa. constitution is just another worthless piece of paper.

[Principled]

more income tax insanity.

[Dukie]

Not to complain, Portnoy, and certainly your observations are correct, however the issues raised here pertain to the matters of constitutionality.

[Dialup Llama]

PA chased away wage earners long ago. However they have the second largest retirement population behing FLA. They might end up chasing away their greatest remaining financial resource... dying people.

[smokeyb]

Good Morning Dukie !

... it's illogical, unconstitutional and should be abolished

That is why we still have it !

TJTT tonight !

[Abundy]

That legal scholar that makes much ado about the signature at the bottom of the tax return is ignoring the fact that the tax return is not filed voluntarily, but under threat of criminal penalties for non-compliance.

Convenient, huh?

[PA Engineer]

I wish Americans would include the term "Grave Robbers" with "Death Taxes". I see no difference culturally or morally.

[RayBob]

Good read. You did a nice job. The state's inheritance tax system is repugnant. There are many who will place a child's name or a close relative or friend's name on their bank account for convenience (so that they can handle bank transactions for them if they are incapacitated.) What they don't realize is if that person they put on their account dies, they will have to pay inheritance tax on one half the value of the bank account, even if they were the only one who put money in. You tell them this and they figure "How will the state ever know?" The state will know because the bank has an employee whos job it is to check the obits every day and plug the names into the computer to see if they have an account at the bank. The bank then tells the state. Same thing goes for safe deposit boxes. A box is sealed and can't be opened until a Dept of Revenue inspector is present at the opening so that they can inventory the box and get their "fair share" of the goodies inside. (Word of caution: don't put your assets in someone else's box- you'll regret it (there's a sexual inuendo in there somewhere) and don't put your kid's stuff in your safe deposit box. Its a mess and should be eliminated.

One other note. Until recently (1994, in fact) there was a 3% tax on assets that passed to a spouse! That included joint assets! The tax was phased out over three years to get down to 0% in 1996 or 97 (I can't remember.)

[Dukie]

You're correct Russ. Everytime we write or speak with politicians, candidates - and indeed even fellow citizen voters - we must focus attention on matters related to constitutional authority for proposed or existing laws. Only then can we expect these charters to be respected.

[Portnoy]

Oh I agree..!

I just thought people should know that, baring any overturning of the tax, they have a recourse.

I know many people do not understand their options.

[Abundy]

Forgot to mention - very well-written piece.

congrats.

[mountaineer]

Excellent analysis, sir.

[Dukie]

As evidenced by the continuing reduction in PA's congressional delegation it appears that is indeed happening.

[xsmommy]

great job!

[Dukie]

Thanks for your reply, my friend. The scholar referenced is a law school professor. So many of our legislators are steeped in that kind of thinking its no wonder that laws derelict of constitutional authority are proliferating.

[Dukie]

See you there, smokey !

Are you going to be there, Dales ?

[Dukie]

Good point. There seems to be no event in an individual's life which is not encumbered with some sort of tax liability.

[Still Thinking]

"You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania"

See, not all of the slogan fit on the plates. The rest went: "so get him to another state, before we rob him blind!"

[Dukie]

Thank you forr your kind words. I really must check edits & spelling more thoroughly, as pointed out by Leni.

[Dukie]

Thank you forr your kind words. I really must check edits & spelling more thoroughly, as pointed out by Leni.

[Protagoras]

All taxes are a form of theft. The death tax is the "grave robber" form of that theft.

[xsmommy]

i am a former Pittsburgher and with the passing of my father in December, am personally confronting the PA inheritance tax situation, so i was particularly interested in your piece.

[goldstategop]

We abolished the "death tax" here in California in 1982.

[Dukie]

I believe Deukmejian (sp ? ) another pretty good governor helped get it abolished. Not since the days of Ben Franklin has Pennsylvania been associated with leadership in enlightened thinking.

[Dukie]

Thanks for your kind words and observations concerning the banks' role in compliance, Ray.

(Word of caution: don't put your assets in someone else's box- you'll regret it (there's a sexual inuendo in there somewhere)

LOL ROTF !

What gets me Ray is the requirement that the spouse to make the report via the tax return even when no tax is owed.

I asked Tim Murphy to address these matters several weeks ago without reply as yet.

[Dukie]

My sympathies to you on your loss, xsmommy. My own interest in the topic was focused by the same occurrence, coincidently in December too.

[xsmommy]

sympathies back to you, then, dukie. never having had this experience before, i had no idea that inheritance taxes did not exist in all states. my father did a living trust, so we avoided most of the tax, but still the process is laborious.

[mountaineer]

The death tax and Allegheny County's ridiculously high property taxes are but two reasons I want my mother to leave Pa. If she lived in my county, just over the Pa. line, she'd save (rough estimate) at least 70 percent in property taxes alone. Of course, we don't have any doctors - thanks to the medical malpractice insurance "crisis" - in W.Va., so there is a bit of a trade-off.

[Dukie]

A local matter for your consideration

[xsmommy]

my father would never have budged from his home in Westmoreland Co!

[Dukie]

I believe that the PA legislature - all 250 of them and the highest paid in the nation - see such inertia as reason to let things continue. The state is dying as a result of the tax & business climate.

[Dukie]

A local issues bump fyi

[Dukie]

You're a keystone stater aren't you ?