CNN Talks to Beth Kaufman on Sanders' Tax Plan Targeting Estates of Ultra Rich

Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has a proposal for taxing the very rich: Hit their estates.

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Currently, the maximum estate tax levy on America's 588 billionaires, who are collectively worth more than $3 trillion, would be $1.2 trillion, according to Sanders' office. The senator's proposal would increase it by $1 trillion. For instance, it would nearly double the liability of the nation's richest man -- Jeff Bezos of Amazon -- to $101 million.

But one expert says Sanders' revenue estimate may be too generous because the rich typically change their tactics when faced with additional taxes.

"Every time people try to close loopholes, creative people will find new ways to do planning to avoid these changes," said Beth Shapiro Kaufman, a partner at Caplin & Drysdale attorneys and former official in the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy. "It's a game of whack-a-mole."

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Excerpt taken from the article “New Sanders Tax Plan Targets Estates of the Ultra-Rich” by Gregory Krieg and Tami Luhby for CNN.