From the NYT on Sunday:
Whether or not the I.R.S. agrees with Mr. Lauder’s contention that his contract is legitimate, some tax policy experts say the deal illustrates how the wealthy take advantage of the system.
“There’s real truth to the idea that the tax code for the 1 percent is different from the tax code for the 99 percent,” said Victor Fleischer, a law professor at the University of Colorado. “Any taxpayer lucky enough to have appreciated property is usually put to a choice: cash out and pay some tax, or hold the property and risk the vagaries of the market. Only the truly rich can use derivatives to get the best of both worlds — lots of cash and very little risk.”
via Estée Lauder Heir’s Tax Strategies Typify Advantages for Wealthy – NYTimes.com.
I’m curious what non-tax folks think. The point I tried to get across is that what Lauder did was legal, but that we should not be satisfied with a tax system where planning options are so easily available to the rich and well-advised.