Connecticut is one of 12 states, plus the District of Columbia, that impose an estate tax that applies to estates that are worth more than $2.6 million in 2018, which rose to $3.6 million this year. There is also a $15 million estate tax cap, no matter its value.
The exemption grows to $5.1 next year, $7.1 in 20221 and $9.1 million in 2022.
According to multiple reports, there may be bipartisan support for legislation that would potentially repeal or alter the estate tax. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed their support for pulling back from taxing the rich after they die.
Politicians have expressed concern that the estate tax encourages the area’s wealthiest to avoid or leave the state for another location without such a tax. They’re also stated that the revenue generated by the tax is meager, and not worth the perception it creates. In total, the tax is projected to raise approximately $200 million this year.
There are still some outstanding questions about what will happen after 2019, as the state has passed two different bills. One bill gradually increases the exemption to the federal limit of $11.18 million by 2023. The other bill raises the exemption to $5.49 million in 2020 and then does not further increase it.
First-year Gov. Ned Lamont has been mum about any potential repeal, though while he was campaigning last year, his office said that “eliminating the income tax and the estate tax will be an enormous giveaway to the very wealthiest while slashing 60 percent of the revenues that fund education, health care and infrastructure investments.”
This story is developing. Check Daily Voice for updates.
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