Clinton’s Estate Tax Plan Doesn’t Address Her Own Tax Planning

The minimum value of the Clintons' financial assets is $11 million, according to Hillary Clinton's most recent campaign disclosure, which requires reporting within broad ranges of value. The couple has earned at least $30 million since January 2014, according to the disclosure. That income places them among the top .01 percent of American taxpayers, based on Internal Revenue Service data. Campaign disclosures show that the Clintons also own life insurance trusts, which can also reduce estate-tax bills.

Under current law, estates worth less than $5.45 million per person, or $10.9 million per married couple, are exempt from the 40 percent estate tax. Clinton on Tuesday proposed making more estates taxable — those worth more than $3.5 million per person or $7 million per couple. She also wants to raise the rate to 45 percent. The increased tax would apply to four out of every 1,000 estates in the country and raise $200 billion over 10 years, according to a Clinton campaign aide who asked not to be named.

On Monday, Clinton proposed creating a 4 percent tax surcharge for people with annual incomes of $5 million or more, a measure that would target just .02 percent of U.S. taxpayers and raise $150 billion over 10 years, the aide said. Clinton also said Tuesday she wants to close "loopholes" that create tax benefits for hedge-fund managers and the wealthy. Specifically, she wants to make it more difficult to build multi million-dollar individual retirement accounts, and prevent hedge funds from getting tax benefits by investing through Bermuda-based reinsurance companies.

After Clinton's estate-tax announcement Tuesday, Michael C. Short, a Republican National Committee spokesman, tweeted a link to Bloomberg's previous reporting on the Clintons' residence trusts.