Political Quotes

“Exactly. Anyway, my great aunt's husband predeceased her. When she died, she had left a will that set aside one section of land to be sold to pay off the estate tax. Unfortunately, this was 1986, and that also happened to be a time when FDIC and the SLIC, later the RTC, they started accumulating and they started dumping land around that area. Land had been valued around $2,000 at the time of her death in 1986, but within a year or so when the estate was being settled, because of the land being dumped in the area, it fell to $600, $700 an acre. The IRS took every acre of the estate, because at the time the land fell to $600 or $700. The IRS did allow a year or two extension hoping the land value would come back so they would get to save an acre or two. But out of 2,500 acres, it was around a $5 million estate at 2,000 acres, and there were some comparables around that when she died to show it was that value. But when it fell to $600, $700, the IRS said, ``It is all ours, because it will take every acre of land to pay your 55 percent estate tax even after the exemption.'' They forced the sale of every acre of land, and her home, where she had designated specific bequests: I want you to have my china; I want you to have my crystal; I want you to have these beautiful pieces of furniture, you to have the table. Well, we got a cry from her immediate family, ``Please come, because the public is coming to this auction.…”