Office of Tax Analysis of the Treasury Dept. has published a paper titled “The Federal Gift Tax: History, Law, and Economics.”

Sarasota attorney Barry F. Spivey, who also chairs the Florida Bar’s Trust Law Committee, circulated the following email and link to the Treasury Department’s recently published white paper on the U.S. gift tax.  If tax planning is a part of your estate planning practice, this paper is probably a must read.  Here’s Barry’s email and a link to the referenced white paper:

"For you tax geeks or just plain intellectually curious on the Committee, the Office of Tax Analysis of the Treasury Dept. has published a paper titled "The Federal Gift Tax: History, Law, and Economics." The paper traces the evolution of the gift tax, its structure, and interactions with the income and estate taxes. It concludes with a discussion of the behavioral effects of the gift tax."