Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Death tax in Washington stirs controversy

How would you like to know that after you die, your family is stuck paying some kind of tax on your death? This is exactly what happened to a family in Seattle, Washington. The mother had just given birth to her baby girl and it was predetermined by medical staff that the baby would not survive outside the mother's womb.

Unfortunately, the baby only lived for about an hour.

Now, the family is even more shocked by a $50 tax on their infant daughter's death, even though she only lived for that one hour.

How unbelievably insensitive that would be to discover this tax after a birth of a child is supposed to be one of the happiest moments in a marriage, even though this was not the case and the parents knew that their daughter would not survive.

Three years ago, The Kings County Medical Examiners Office in Washington, had instituted this $50 fee for cremations and this year, included fees on burials as well. The office insists that the fee is just for a "review of all deaths", but for this grieving family, they don't think a review is necessary since it was already predetermined that the infant child could not live outside her mother's body.

Nevertheless, a death tax fee is pretty despicable. The cost of burials and cremations is high as it already is, not to mention the costs families have to go through dealing with the medical examiner's office, attorneys, insurance and wills. But Kings County in Washington State says that if you die, one of your family members will have to front that $50 tax.

Looks like every State in the union is going to try some kind of ridiculous tax to solve their financial mess.

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