The irony in this situation is pretty huge. Prince didn’t like meddling in his music or business but now the government will be taking over half of his life’s earnings in taxes. The problem is that Prince wasn’t married…if he’d been married the estate would have gone to his wife. Pretty sad scenario of death and then taxes….
If Prince were married, he could have passed on the entirety of his estate to his spouse tax free. However, without a spouse, only $1.6 million of Prince’s estate will be free from Minnesota’s death tax and only $5.45 million will escape the federal death tax.
Prince, the iconic pop star who once was “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” in protest of the record labels, unexpectedly died last week and he didn’t have a will. He also wasn’t married, so the government will get most of the proceeds of his massive estate.
Since his death I’ve read that he was a closet conservative, and I’ve read that he was a big liberal. So I don’t know what his political leanings were, but what does seem clear is that he wasn’t a fan of others profiting off of his musical genius. So it’s kind of sad that the government will take more than fifty percent of his life’s work.
Both the federal government and Minnesota’s state government will assess so-called “death taxes” or estate taxes on Prince’s assets, taking away more than half his estate. Between his physical assets—cash, investments, home, etc.—and his future royalties, Prince’s estate has been estimated to be between $300 and $500 million.
If Prince were married, he could have passed on the entirety of his estate to his spouse tax free. However, without a spouse, only $1.6 million of Prince’s estate will be free from Minnesota’s death tax and only $5.45 million will escape the federal death tax.
The combination of Minnesota’s top death tax rate of 16 percent, plus the federal government’s 40 percent rate, means that over 50 percent of Prince’s estate will go to the government.
Read more: Lonely Conservative
