Research Paper on:
Estate and Gift Taxes

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
is less. In real life, estate and gift taxes are a part of life, just as the income tax, that many want to abolish. While a flat tax may  never replace the income tax, it is quite possible that some time soon, the gift and estate taxes will be a thing of the past, or at least one or  the other. Although many try to stay away from the Monopoly card, many people do not have to worry about that tax because it generally affects the wealthy. What are  gift and estate taxes exactly? Estate and gift taxes are generally used for the purpose of taxing large transfers of money between individuals ("Estate," 2002). Gift taxes are taxes which  are imposed on transfers which are made during an individuals lifetime but estate taxes are imposed only on transfers which are made at the time after an individuals death (2002).  The gift tax system has been in effect since 1932, something that came about not just to supplement state taxes, but rather to preserve the integrity of the  income tax system (Vandenburgh & Harmelink, 2001). One has to remember that the 1930s was a time of change and fear. It was during the Great Depression when Roosevelts  New Deal prompted a lot of legislation to protect the public from money woes. Still, while the tax has been around for quite some time, it is something that has  also been rather controversial. While gift taxes and estate taxes are paid independently, they are essentially a unified tax in that a single graduated rate schedule will apply to the  cumulative total of transfers made through gifts or estates ("Estate," 2002). In other words, whether or not an individual is dead or alive, when that person gives another