Democrats Ask Treasury to Limit Grantor Trust ‘Abuse’ by Wealthy

Four Democratic senators including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.) called on the Treasury Department Tuesday to use its authority to rein in abuses of grantor trusts, such as grantor retained annuity trusts some wealthy Americans use to avoid paying taxes.

“Billionaires and multi-millionaires use trusts to shift wealth to their heirs tax-free, dodging federal estate and gift taxes,” the senators wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “The Treasury Department can and should exercise the full extent of its regulatory authority to limit this blatant abuse of our tax system by the ultra-wealthy.”

Exercising Treasury’s ...