quick notes

- Currently, the tax is assessed only on estates with assets exceeding $5.3 million ($10.6 million per married couple). Families with an estate worth less than those amounts pay nothing. Most families with estates worth $10.6 million or more do careful planning to avoid the tax. Tax loopholes let many wealthy families greatly reduce what they pay or pay no taxes at all. The estate tax is graduated — like the income tax — with a top rate of 40%. However, the average effective tax rate is 17% for those 1 out of 700 deaths that result in paying an estate tax.

US Policy Changes, Global Migration Trends, More Families
2022 fiscal year set a record of 2.2 million illegal border crossings. These numbers do not include crossings at official checkpoints. Including those, migrant crossings in the 2023 fiscal year hit a record high
Patterns of global migration contributed to the recent rise in illegal border crossings. For example, Venezuela’s economy crumbled about a decade ago, leading to a massive outflow of the country’s population. Gang violence in Central America has forced many to flee.
Single adults have previously accounted for a majority of border apprehensions. But U.S. border officials apprehended more family members trying to cross the border from June to September than in any previous full fiscal year.