I am 50, and I'm concerned about avoiding estate taxes on two fronts. I want my parents' money to stay in the family, and I want my money to pass to my children. Many couples between 50 and 80 who live on Long Island have $1 million to $4 million in assets. Let's face it: If you own a home, have some life insurance, IRAs and a 401(k), you are a millionaire. There's a heavy federal tax on everything above the first $2 million of your estate. What's the best way to avoid this tax? More important, the federal law expires in 2010. If we revert to the old law, a much smaller amount will be sheltered. Your recent articles seem to play down the value of living trusts. Wouldn't these be of use here? What other vehicles can a person use to avoid estate taxes if he wants to control his funds until he dies instead of gifting them away?

D.N., Massapequa



.

State income tax deadline extended

Arkansas revenue officials are extending the state income tax deadline to conform with a federal tax extension this year. State income taxes will be due at the same time as federal income taxes: postmarked no later than midnight on Tuesday.Hino to expandA Hino Motors executive disclosed that his firm will add a new manufacturing facility for medium-duty trucks somewhere in the U.S. Southeast. But Chad Bamberg, marketing manager for Hino Motors USA Inc., said the company has ruled out an expansion at Marion, where Hino has a $160 million components factory. He did not elaborate.Toyota, which recently passed over Marion for a superproject that located near Tupelo, Miss., owns 50.1 percent of Hino Motors.Coughlin case takes new turnsA jury may end up deciding whether former Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Tom Coughlin, now serving a sentence for fraud against his ex-employer, is entitled to a retirement package worth almost $15 million.

Comment: Fair Tax plan is a simple, transparent solution

Once again, taxpayers are struggling to find receipts, understand tax forms and get to the post office in time. And once again, politicians from both parties are making their annual empty promises that something really has to be done about the income tax system.

As bad as it is, it's about to get a lot worse. Few Americans understand the alternative minimum tax has already started creating dramatically higher tax liabilities for the middle class.

Scripps Howard News Service

Washington, DC (SHNS) -- As you grumble about taxes, consider the plaint of District of Columbia residents, for whom "taxation without representation" appears to be their fate for the foreseeable future.

Forget Monday's march by city leaders and residents to Capitol Hill to sound the (likely futile) final battle cry for a measure that would give city residents a vote in the House of Representatives, where tax policy is made.

While the bill has drawn more GOP support than ever before for similar quests, and it technically remains alive in Congress, it has become politically tangled with the city's handgun ban and is being panned by the White House as unconstitutional.



So any hope that the 500,000 city residents will finally get a say in how their federal taxes are levied and spent is almost certainly dead.

Federal Alternative Tax Minimum effects a New Group

Between 5% and 10% of taxpayers are paying the same amount of taxes each year as millionaires like Derek Jeter and billionaires like Bill Gates.