To raise your ire: How Retirees Pay Zero Taxes [View all]

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2013/06/05/how-retirees-pay-zero-taxes/#

Don’t let this out to anyone on the Senate Finance Committee, but rich old people who set up their portfolios a certain way get away with murder on their tax returns.

No, the portfolio does not have to be tucked away in the Cayman Islands. It can be invested through a U.S. brokerage account in mainstream funds like Vanguard Total Stock Market, familiar blue chips like Microsoft and very liquid energy partnerships like Kinder Morgan Energy Partners.

To illustrate, let’s invent a retired couple who live outside Boston. They own a $2 million home, have $7 million stashed away at their broker and haul in $200,000 a year in dividends, interest, Social Security and distributions from publicly traded partnerships. They have $30,000 in deductions, including $20,000 for property tax and $5,000 for a donation.

Type this example into Intuit’s TurboTax program and the federal income tax bill that comes out is $17.

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