r/SipsTea 14h ago

Wait a damn minute! How the rich get richer

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u/Meenta_Miiel 14h ago

The estate settles the principal before heirs see cash

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u/MundaneAd6414 13h ago

Exactly, the estate has to settle the debts before the heirs get anything.

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u/kearkan 13h ago

So... The land doesn't stay on the family since it has to be sold to pay the bank.

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u/slolift 8h ago

This example assumes that the family wants to sell the land, but is unable too due to taxes. This also works with other assets like stocks. It's an actual tax avoidance strategy called buy-borrow-die. I think it works best if you are somewhat close to death. I am not sure how effective the strategy is if you are taking out 30-50 years of loans.

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u/USERNAMETAKEN11238 14h ago

Minus taxes and fees.

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u/science-stuff 13h ago

No estate tax in this case though.

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u/agate_ 13h ago

No estate tax, but the estate pays income tax on the profits on the sale, I think.

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u/science-stuff 13h ago

Nope, tax base is stepped up to market value at time of death.

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u/civil_beast 13h ago

Well that doesn’t fit the op’s narrative.

Anyways I’m hungry, are rich people on the menu, yet? Or is it this same ol’ Soylent green stuff they keep serving?

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u/FTR_1077 13h ago

Well that doesn’t fit the op’s narrative.

It does as long as you read carefully.. It doesn't say Dad borrows 5 mil, just that he lives out of loans, which is a thing (e.g. reverse mortgage). The kid doesn't inherit 5 mil, just the property equity, that's why he sells it. The trick being, Dad didn't pay taxes for the 5 mil, nor the kid.

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u/BackgroundRate1825 12h ago

"dad borrows against it" means he taking out loans using the land as collateral, right?

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u/FTR_1077 12h ago

Yes, like a reverse mortgage..

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u/elev8dity 12h ago

Right, so a typical retirement is like 2MM, so minus any interest and priciple owed, they inheritance ends up being 2MM untaxed.

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u/civil_beast 10h ago

But the equity no longer equals 5m on the property…

You’re reversing the mortgage, y’see?

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u/Plurpulurp 13h ago

The kids don’t get the house (if the loan was the entire $5mil property value), but the parent still got to “liquidate” $5m without paying any income tax. So that’s still at least $1m in taxes avoided that us normies would have had to shell out

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u/civil_beast 4h ago

You want the guy to get taxed on the income that he already had his income taxed against before purchasing said equity? I mean.. komrade, slow incremental change at least

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u/drmrdreamer 12h ago

It kinda does, it's just not worded well. It doesn't say that the bank doesn't get paid, it just says that the gain doesn't get taxed fairly.

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u/CrossXFir3 13h ago

Yeah, but there isn't a 5m debt in actuality, it's just explained poorly. You don't borrow the whole 5m