I've just thought.

[Sam Finch]

How much money would the american gorenment stand to make if bill gates was assasinated? (through tax on inheritence etc)

[barrk]

http://web.quuxuum.org/~evan/bgnw.html

[barrk]

Not to get too morbid, but many people have asked about Bill's U.S. tax liabilities. Let's look at what happens if Bill dies...

According to the Internet Death Clock, Bill will die on Thursday, August 9, 2029 at age 73. (That is 28.75 years from now.) If Bill continues to make money at the same rate of 44.44% per year, he will have $2,015,863,433,598,939.50 or $2.02 Quadrillion! Thanks to Christopher Guidi for the suggestion and the formulas!

Uncle Sam gets (in the form of Federal Estate Transfer Taxes) $11,764,800 plus 55% of everything in excess of $21,040,000 MINUS $1,000,000 (his unified estate tax credit as it will be in 2006 and beyond). Based on his CURRENT net worth, that would come to $28,429,052,689.06 ($28.43 Billion)... UNLESS...

He leaves it all outright to his wife, Melinda, in which case Uncle Sam gets ZERO (until she dies, when they get another shot at it) OR

He leaves it all outright to charity, in which case Uncle Sam gets absolutely nothing.

It should be noted that Bill can gift $10,000 annually to as many individuals as he has money without incurring any estate transfer taxation. (OK, $20,000 per individual if Melinda elects to split gifts.) NOTE: We are NOT taking names at this web site.

One final note: When Bill dies, his estate will not pay a penny in income tax on the appreciation of his shares. In fact, whoever gets the appreciated shares could immediately sell those shares (assuming the price does not change) and not pay a penny of income tax. It's called a step up in basis and it's one of the last great estate planning tools remaining. (Thanks to W. Ben Utley for his suggestion and tax advice.)

[jdavison]

I can smell the smoke from here

They would probably make a few billion.