Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

by Gale, William G.; Hines, James R.; Slemrod, Joel

• ISBN13: 9780815700692
• ISBN10: 0815700695
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

Author Biography

William G. Gale is Joseph A. Pechman fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution James R. Hines Jr. is professor of business economics and research director, Office of Tax Policy Research, University of Michigan Joel Slemrod is Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy and director, Office of Tax Policy Research, University of Michigan

Table of Contents

Overview	1	(65)
William G. Gale
Joel Slemrod
Elements of Federal Estate Taxation	65	(48)
Barry W. Johnson
Jacob M. Mikow
Martha Britton Eller
Comment	108	(5)
C. Eugene Steuerle
Avoiding Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes	113	(51)
Richard Schmalbeck
Comment	159	(5)
Jane Gravelle
A Framework for Assessing Estate and Gift Taxation	164	(52)
Louis Kaplow
Comment	205	(11)
Pierre Pestieau
Do Estate Taxes Reduce Saving?	216	(42)
William G. Gale
Maria G. Perozek
Comment	248	(10)
Roger H. Gordon
Inequality and Wealth Accumulation: Eliminating the Federal Gift and Estate Tax	258	(41)
John Laitner
Comment	293	(6)
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The Impact of the Estate Tax on Wealth Accumulation and Avoidance Behavior	299	(51)
Wojciech Kopczuk
Joel Slemrod
Comment	344	(6)
Alan J. Auerbach
Charitable Giving in Life and at Death	350	(25)
David Joulfaian
Comment	370	(5)
James R. Hines Jr.
Noncompliance with the Federal Estate Tax	375	(47)
Martha Britton Eller
Brian Erard
Chih-Chin Ho
Comment	411	(11)
Kathleen McGarry
The Distributional Burden of Taxing Estates and Unrealized Capital Gains at Death	422	(35)
James M. Poterba
Scott Weisbenner
Comment	450	(7)
Leonard Burman
Elderly Asset Management and Health	457	(48)
Jonathan S. Feinstein
Chih-Chin Ho
Comment	499	(6)
Jonathan Skinner
Contributors	505	(2)
Index	507