Wealthy Clintons Use Trusts to Limit Estate Tax They Back

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, and former President Bill Clinton attend the 7th Annual Carnegie Hall Medal Of Excellence Gala in New York, on April 24, 2014.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.

To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of U.S. households in wealth. These moves, common among multimillionaires, will help shield some of their estate from the tax that now tops out at 40 percent of assets upon death.

The Clintons created residence trusts in 2010 and shifted ownership of their New York house into them in 2011, according to federal financial disclosures and local property records.

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