Death and Taxes

Whether the estate is in stocks, the assets of a farm or a business, or in real estate (including your own home), the tax on the annual increases in its value have been postponed year after year [“Trying to Solve the Mystery of an Estate’s Life After Death,” Money Make-Over, Sept. 12].

They are postponed until sale of the asset. If the assets are not sold upon death of the owner (or the owner’s surviving spouse), the taxes are due. The owner has clearly benefited from this repeated tax postponement. The rest of the taxpayers have been very gracious in carrying the tax load while this family’s taxes have been postponed.

And they are only being reasonable in saying the postponed tax should be neither forgiven nor postponed for another generation, but paid now.

FRANK AMON

West Los Angeles