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toast0 • last Thursday at 8:37 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

In the Canadian approach, as I understand it, all capital gains taxes are assessed upon disposition; including disposition at death.

In the US approach, capital gains disposed at death avoid capital gains taxes.

Here are two similar scenarios where the difference in actions is small, but the difference in net estate distributed to heirs is large.

Both scenarios: Parent P buys (split adjusted) 100,000 shares AMZN on Jan 3, 2000 at close for $4.47. Parent P has no other assets.

Scenario 1: Parent P sells March 9, 2026 at close for $213.49 per share; realizing $209.02 in capital gains per share, ~ $20.9M capital gains, $21.4M proceeds. Parent P dies March 10, 2026. If cap gains tax is 20% uniformly (which it isn't), ~ $4.2M goes to income tax, the estate at time of death is $17.2M. If estate tax is uniformly 40% of amounts over $15M (which it isn't), the estate tax is about ~ $0.9M, and the net estate is $16.3M

Scenario 2: Parent P dies March 10, 2026, without selling. The estate promptly sells at close for $214.33. $21.4M proceeds, ~ $20.9M capital gains, but no capital gains tax is due. Again assuming 40% estate tax over $15M, estate tax is $2.6M and the net estate is $18.8M

How is it fair for the heirs of Parent P in scenario 2 to get so much more than in scenario 1 when the circumstances are so similar?

If you use actual tax brackets, you could make the example numbers more accurate, but I don't think it will change the results significantly.

Replies

CGMthrowaway • yesterday at 6:31 PM

Have you considered these factors when considering fairness..?

  1) Many estates contain illiquid assets- family farms, small businesses, etc. Forcing a deemed disposition at death can force heirs to sell just to pay the tax bill

  2) Death isn't a voluntary transaction, and cannot be forecast well, so we are essentially creating an arbitrary tax event/hardship

  3) Determining original cost basis across decades of an ancestor's holdings can create an enormous administrative burden for heirs

  4) Bunching all accumulated gains in a single year at death will push the estate into an artificially high marginal tax bracket

  5) Taxing gains at death discourages long-term wealth building and pushes people toward consumption instead of investment
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