President Obama's 2014 Proposed Budget

As the financial community knows, the current federal estate tax exclusion amount is $5.25 million per deceased person for tax year 2013.  This amount is also indexed for inflation and will likely increase each year, pending legislative change.

Last week, President Obama issued his proposed budget for 2014 ("Green Book").  The President's budget contains four significant tax law changes.  One of those changes is a proposal to return the federal estate tax law to the law on the books in 2009.  This would mean a reduction in the federal estate tax exclusion to $3.5 million.

While the passage of the budget plan is likely slim, considering the republican-controlled House of Representatives, the proposal still amazes me.  Just when I thought the estate and gift tax environment was relatively stable and permanently fixed, politicians continue to propose measures to defeat the "permanency."  The concept of wealth redistribution will never die.  People will keep seeking a false utopia through the concept of wealth redistribution.

The Green Book also reminds me that no tax law is permanently established.