To assemble a modest-size estate of eight hectares in Boca, one newcomer to the region, Christoph Künzli, had to sign about 80 separate purchase agreements, so fragmented was the ownership of the land.
The December tax-law overhaul was a godsend to folks with nice-size estates.
The size of estates exempt from the estate tax are scheduled to be increased next year and several times over the next decade, with repeal of the estate tax set for 2010.
Determined to not wake the gently snoring Canada, equal parts impossibly hairy and handsome, and two dogs hogging much queen size real estate, I hold my breath, wondering if the dream is real, and run down a mental checklist of what didn't get done yesterday and might not get done today.
Other important provisions would raise the tax credit for children, now $500 per child, to $1,000, lower taxes for married couples, increase the size of estates exempt from taxation and repeal the estate tax entirely in 2011 and allow deduction of up to $5,000 for college tuition payments.
Other central parts of the bill also proposed by the president would lower the taxes of married couples, double the tax credit for each child to $1,000, increase the size of estates exempt from taxation and repeal the estate tax in 2011.
However, these effects would be partly offset by a roughly 40percentnt fall in the average size of estates, as a larger number of relatively smaller estates are brought into IHT.
And the concentration in bequests is also astonishing: the 0.4% of estates worth $20m or more account for 58% of the value of all bequests.Interestingly, as the size of estates rises, the proportion going to heirs shrinks and the share left to charity increases.
For a modest-size real estate market like Seattle, those are staggering numbers.
Under the bill, the size of estates exempt from taxation, now $675,000, would be raised to $4 million by 2010.
There are also disagreements among senators over the tax rate and the size of estates that should be exempt, further clouding the bill's prospects.
