Letter: ‘Silver spoon’ loophole is a handout to few

Some truth about the estate tax (death tax if you prefer).

Today, 99.8 percent of estates owe no tax at all. With that in mind, it should be called the 'silver spoon” tax. Taxable estates (value of $5.49 million per person today) pay about one-sixth of their value in tax (uh, if you have a $5 million estate and can't figure out how to use all the loopholes to avoid taxes).

Less than 100 small business and small farm estates nationwide face the 'silver spoon” tax for 2017. It raises less than 1 percent of federal revenue over the next decade. There is an allowance in the 'silver spoon” tax to spread payments over a 15-year period to avoid liquidity issues due to poor planning.

The 'silver spoon” tax is a handout to less than 1 percent of Americans. To make up for the less than 1 percent loss in federal revenue, the other 99 percent of us will cover it by paying more taxes or seeing cuts in programs that benefit us.

Steve Breese

Solon