Hillary Clinton Wants Higher Estate Taxes, But Not on Her Family

Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton December 16, 2015 in Omaha, Nebra
Steve Pope/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton wants to increase the estate tax to 65 percent on the wealthiest Americans,  according to her latest tax plan.

The Clinton campaign estimates that the increase would raise an addition $75 billion in revenue over the next decade. The current rate maxes out at 40 percent.

But Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill have created a number of tax shelters in recent years to dramatically limit their payment of the very same tax. As Bloomberg reported back in 2014: “To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of U.S. households in wealth.”

In 2010 the Clinton created “residential trusts” and the following year moved their Chappaqua estate into the trust,  according to their financial records. As David Scott Sloan,  a partner at the firm Holland Knight explained the Clinton trust to CBS News, “You’re creating things that are going to be on the nontaxable side of the balance sheet when they die.”

The move will save the Clintons hundreds of thousands of dollars in estate taxes, according to accountants quoted by Bloomberg.

Even more substantial, the Clintons created a life insurance trust in 2010, which will shelter life insurance payments from estate taxes. This is their second such trust. The first was created in 1996, according to financial disclosures.

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