THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
[— Taxes and Your Future
•
i'litor's Note: Guidance
mportant problems
pruyided by Jewish Wel-
fare Federation-United
Jewish Charities Endow-
ment Fund Tax Advisory
Committee. Professional
advice about issues dis-
cussed in these columns
should be secured from
your attorney or an estate
planning adviser. Ques-
tions of general interest in
these matters should be
addressed to "Taxes and
Your Future," care of the
Jewish News, 17515 W.
Nine Mile Road, South- 1
field, 48075.
Changes-in the new Tax
Reform Act of 1976 has also
effected changes in the Ma-
rital Deduction and the Uni-
fied Tax Rate Schedule.
The new law has liber-
alized the marital deduc-
tion. Under the old law, the
estate tax marital deduc-
tion was limited to 50 per-
cent of the adjusted gross
estate. Now, the maximum
marital deduction is 50 per-
cent of the gross estate or
$250,000, whichever is
larger.
Making use of the liber-
alized marital deduction in
estates of less than $500,000
may be advantageous in
some cases. For most indi-
viduals having estates in
this range, a modification
of their wills will be neces-
sary in order to be eligible
for the marital deduction.
The federal 'gift and es-
tate tax laws are now in-
tegrated into a Unified
Rate Schedule. Therefore,
it is much less desirable
from a tax viewpoint to
make lifetime gifts in
excess of the $3,000 exclu-
sion ($6,000 if husband and
wife join in filing gift tax re-
turns).
The net effect of the Uni-
fied Rate Schedule is that
gifts in excess of the annual
exclusion reduce the
amount of the credit that is
available for use against
the estate tax.
Once the value of the
prrs-c!rty included in the es-
t 'gas been determined
an, the deductions includ-
ing the marital deduction
have been taken, the Uni-
fied Rate Schedule is ap-
plied against the sum of the
taxable estate and taxable
gifts made by the decedent
after Dec. 31, 1976.
It is obvious that the Act
creates a new estate and
gift tax situation beginning
in 1977. In general - the Act
reduces the estate tax on
smaller estates (under
$500,000 - without the marit-
al deduction, and $1,000,000
- with full marital), increas-
es the death tax cost on es-
tates above that amount,
and levels off or reduces
the tax on estates in excess
of $5,000,000.
Beginning Jan. 1, 1977 the
lowest estate tax rate will
be 30 percent and the max-
imum rate will be 70 per-
cent.
The Federal gift tax law,
which prior to 1977 has
always had a lower rate of
tax than the estate tax - to
spur lifetime giving - is
now an integral part of the
estate tax in the Unified
Rate Schedule. The result
will be increased gift and
estate taxes in the case of
most gifts to family mem-
bers and others. However,
gifts to charity are still free
of gift and estate taxes.
Few Dismissed Jewish Civil Servants in NYC Being Rehired
NEW YORK (JTA)—Only
a few of the thousands of
Jewish civil service employ-
es dimissed in the city's
massive 1975-76- austerity
cutbacks have benefitted
from limited recent rehir-
ings, an expert in such em-
ployment reported.
Louis Weiser, president of
the Council of Jewish Organ-
izations in Civil Service,
said the proportion of Jews
among dismissed civil serv-
ice workers had remained
constant at around 50 per-
cent as the number of lay-
offs rose from around 24,000
in March, 1976, to around
30,000 at the end of 1976
when some rehiring was
started by the adminis-
tration of Mayor Abraham
Beame.
Both city funds and
money from the federal
Comprehensive Employ-
ment and Training Act
(CETA is being used in the
rehiring, Weiser said.
Weiser said that the larg-
est number of layoffs of
Jewish employes were
among those employed by
the Board of Education,
which is not controlled by
the city administration.
He said some 6,000 such
workers had been laid off,
including teachers, adminis-
trative workers and guid-
ance counselors. They did
not include some 5,000 Jew-
ish substitute teachers who
were not included among
the Board of Education's
permanent civil service em-
ployes.
Weiser said about 45,000
city employees have left
the city payroll, mainly by
attrition. He said most of
the retirees — up to 95 per-
cent — were white and of
Violinist in Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Ida
Haendel, concert violinist,
arrived in Israel recently
and announced that she in-
tended to make Israel her
permanent home.
Up to now, Haendel di-
vided her time between Lon-
don and New York where
she maintained homes. She
will buy a flat in Tel Aviv
and said she intends to
spend at least three months
of every year in Israel.
NEW YORK—Women's
American ORT will open a
vocational high school to
prepare young people for
work in the diamond in-
dustry in Ramat Gan next
year. The four-year
school—jointly sponsored
by ORT-Israel and the city
of Ramat-Gan—will cover
all aspects of the technical
side of the diamond trade,
such as cutting and polish-
ing and will also include
training on the business
side. Both boys and girls
will be trained for this im-
portant Israel export in-
dustry.
NEW YORK—A group of
24 nuns, priests, and lay
Catholics departed last
week for a three-week work
and study mission to Israel.
Organized by the Sisters of
Mercy in Alma, Mich., and
sponsored by the American
Zionist Federation, the
group will be staying in the
Galilee at Kibutz Gesher
Haziv.
of steadily rising costs of production
and mailing, over the past four years,
The Jewish News is compelled to in-
crease its annual subscription rate to
$12, effective September 2, 1977.
But
1
We are making it possible for those
desiring to do so to pay their subscrip-
tions in advance, for one year, at the
old rate of $10, by using the blank
below. The accounts of those making
use of this offer will be credited ac-
cordingly.
Jewish Student
Parley Postponed
The protesting students
asked that the convention
be postponed until a time
when they could partici-
pate. The Network steering
committee decided to re-
schedule the convention for
late December, Ms. Stern
said.
Catholic Group
Leaves for Israel
Because . .
Establishment of the
school reflects the growth
of Israel's diamond in-
dustry in the past few
years. Sales jumped from
$549 million in 1975 to $712
million in 1976—nearly 30
percent, and preliminary
figures based on project )ns
from London-based central
selling organizations for
worldwide 'industry show a
45 percent growth rate so
far in 1977.
The protesting students,
listed as representing more
than 30,000 Jewish colle-
gians, declared that the
June 12-15 date for the na-
tional conclave coincide
with final examination peri-
ods of the eight University
of California campuses.
those, he said, at least half
are Jews. He said this
meant that most of the Jew-
ish top and middle manage-
ment personnel have left
the city's civil service.
ACT NOW!
ORT to Open
Diamond School
NEW YORK (JTA) —
The North American Jew-
ish Students Network has
announced postponement of
its June convention because
of protests from West Coast
students, according to Ca-
role Stern, Network chair-
man.
Friday, July 1, 1977 45
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