From the Richmond Palladium-Item:
Eliminating state inheritance taxes in the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly is an accomplishment legislators are touting to constituents.
Flush with funds, state government may not miss the estimated $180 million it will lose over the next two years by speeding up the demise of the so-called “death tax.”
Indiana counties, though, received 8 percent of inheritance taxes for estates opened in the county. The statewide loss for counties is significant, as many counties already are struggling financially due to the property tax caps.
Counties are estimated to lose a total of $5.5 million in fiscal year 2014, and $9.9 million in fiscal 2015, according to Legislative Services, which does fiscal analysis for the Indiana General Assembly.
The 2014 amount is smaller because estates have up to a year after a death to file a return and pay the tax. Some estates opened in late 2012, which are still subject to the tax, won’t pay until fiscal year 2014, which begins July 1.
When Wayne County’s 2013 budget was prepared, it was estimated the county would receive $100,000 in inheritance taxes, Wayne County Treasurer Cathy Williams said.
The state’s budget bill not only ended future inheritance taxes, it was also retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013. Counties will lose the inheritance taxes they’ve already received this year, Williams said.
“The state will actually refund the money to the taxpayer and take it out of our distribution,” Williams said.
Randolph County also budgeted about $100,000 in inheritance taxes for 2013, said Randolph County Auditor Mary Ann Lenkensdofer, an amount that’s been stable over the past few years. So far this year, Randolph has received about $41,000 from death taxes.
“Anytime you lose revenue it will affect the county,” Lenkensdofer said. “What we have received so far this year could be the equivalent to funding an employee’s job with benefits. That would have a bearing on budgets for next year.”
Fayette County Auditor Debra Shaw Kidd said the county’s 2013 budget estimated $60,000 in inheritance taxes would be received this year.
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See the full article here:
http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013306090007
