Australia 'death tax' row over proposed trust changes

The Oz tries to suggest Plibersek had a trainwreck interview But this is their lede: "Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has refused to agree that the tax on testamentary discretionary trusts is a “death tax” but conceded the charge will hit families who try to “shift their money around”.

I don't mean to be alarmist but Labor Denies Death Tax is exactly how the last successful anti-death tax scare campaign started... Notwithstanding that neither policy was a death tax.

If you have to utilise s discretionary testamentary trust to manage your estate after death, one of 3 things happened 1. Wanting to evade tax, long term, for recipients 2. Raised shithead, untrustworthy children 3. Recipients legally owe other people large amounts of money. A Stiff Shit Tax

I don't mean to be provocative, but if we are serious about improving intergenerational equity, Australia needs a death tax. Or a wealth tax. [I don't mind whether the mega-wealthy are taxed properly alive or dead.] Until fifty years ago, all States had death duties. #inequality #auspol

Prefer Valley of the Shadow of Death to boring valley of death! (but yes govt will have to fix state tax overlap on trusts (stamp duty in Qld, NT, WA)

No, But the media are LNP sycophants at times and they are running th the "Death Tax" rubbish.Even Natalie Barr on Sunrise had to admit it the change will only affect around 12,000. There are millions in Australia who will benefit from tax changes, including getting rid of CGT and Negative Gearing.

They are hoping if they use highly-emotive and deceptive words like "death tax" it should scare the bejeezus out of enough people to sow doubt. #auspol

Hey @news.abc.net.au - how about your journalists challenge those who are suggesting it is a death tax. Ask those politicians how many family trusts they have.

I ran the Oz's "death tax" theory past my lawyer friend over a quiet ale last Friday. A lot of his work is structuring trusts to minimise the taxable income of his clients, who are what pass for the landed gentry in this part of the world. His response: "Not even close to being true."

The Coalition seizes on the federal government's broken tax promises, claiming a "death tax" has been sneaked into changes to trusts passed on through inheritance. The treasurer says that is a scare campaign.

The old death tax , the old scare campaign .... LNP hallmarks both . Always lies always fear #auspol #qldpol #nswpol

I don't know what tax law in Australia is like, but in the US, heirs can receive appreciated assets while paying zero tax on them, and when they do sell them will only pay tax on the difference between the value at death and when sold. An example: if a parent leaves $5 million of stocks that 1/2

Instead of "complaining" about the "unhinged scare campaign" being waged by the opposition against his budget (because that's politics), what @jimchalmers.bsky.social needs to do is explain to Australians in no BS manner why the changes to "trust rules" isn't a DEATH TAX in disguise. @crikey.com.au

📢 Taylor’s campaign on a new “death tax” is disingenuous, and he knows it. It smacks of opportunism from a party trailing both Labor and One Nation in the polls.

I saw that the latest is that the discretionary trust changes equal death tax. What a joke.