Estate Taxes, Life Insurance, and Small Business / Douglas Holtz-Eakin, John W. Phillips, Harvey S. Rosen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holtz-Eakin, Douglas.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Phillips, John W.

Rosen, Harvey S.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w7360.

NBER working paper series no. w7360

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1999.

Summary:

One criticism of the estate tax is that it prevents the owners of family businesses from passing their enterprises to their children. The problem is that it may be difficult to pay estate taxes without liquidating the business. A natural question is why individuals with such concerns do not purchase enough life insurance to meet their estate tax liabilities. This paper examines whether and how people use life insurance to deal with the estate tax. We find that, other things being the same, business owners purchase more life insurance than other individuals. However, on the margin, their insurance purchases are less responsive to estate tax considerations and they are less likely to have the wherewithal to meet estate tax liabilities out of liquid assets plus insurance.

Notes:

Print version record

September 1999.