How the Estate Tax Works: Who Actually Pays It, and How Little It Raises
Roughly 0.2% of estates file a federal estate tax return, and the tax raises under 1% of federal revenue. How the $15M exemption, GRATs, and step-up in basis actually work.
Roughly 0.2% of estates file a federal estate tax return, and the tax raises under 1% of federal revenue. How the $15M exemption, GRATs, and step-up in basis actually work.
A trust isn’t one thing. The kind most people get skips probate but protects nothing; the kind that moves real wealth works only because you give up control. Here’s which does what.
About 90% of family wealth is gone by the third generation. Inside the trusts, governance, and heir prep that separate the dynasties that last from those that don’t.
How wealth actually moves between generations in 2026 — the $15M exemption, the step-up in basis, lifetime gifts, dynasty trusts, and the talk-to-the-heirs problem.
The 25 wealthiest Americans paid a 3.4% income-tax rate on their wealth growth, per ProPublica. The structures that produce that number — explained, not editorialized.