Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been a long time advocate of the death tax, or what her campaign likes to call "revenue enhancements." But a close look at Hillary's financial statements, which were released last week in an effort to distract away from newly released State Department emails, shows efforts to evade the death tax by locking up money and assets in trusts. More from Americans for Tax Reform:
Newly released tax returns from Hillary Clinton, disclosed in a Friday evening news dump last week, suggest she has been using a Death Tax avoidance strategy. Through the creation of a trust account, the Clintons appear to be engaging in legal but hypocritical measures to avoid paying the Death Tax Hillary Clinton has spent a career defending.
Clinton has consistently voted for the Death Tax throughout her time in public office and forcefully condemned attempts to lower it. But when it comes to her own finances, it is a different story. The newly released tax returns buttress earlier reports outlining the ways Clinton uses financial planning strategies that shield her Death Tax liability.
More on her death tax record:
-In 2001, Clinton voted no on H.R. 1836, “the Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act,” which contained a series of tax cuts, one of which increased the Death Tax exemption level to $3.5 million.
-In 2005, Clinton voted no on H.R. 8, “the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005,” which fully repealed the Death Tax.
-In 2006, Clinton voted no on H.R. 5970, “the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006,” which increased the Death Tax exemption level to $5 million.
-In 2008, Clinton voted no on S.Amdt.4191, legislation to increase the Death Tax exemption level to $5 million.
This is just another example of Clinton exempting herself from a policy she advocates for the rest of the country, further proving she is out of touch with the reality of government burden on those who need relief the most. Apparently protecting her own wealth is more important than protecting the wealth of Americans she claims to care about. The death tax is especially burdensome on middle class families in the farming and ranching businesses.
Tennessee farmer Brandon Whitt told the House Ways and Means Committee this past March that the estate tax–often called the death tax by opponents–is crippling his and other family farm operations across the country.
In public testimony, Whitt said his father-in-law was forced to sell off a large portion of farm land in 1998 to pay the estate tax when he inherited the operation. What’s left, Whitt said, is a seventh-generation farm with little liquid assets and an inability to expand.
During the Bush administration, the death tax was eliminated. President Obama brought it back during his first term.