You're Probably Looking at the Wrong Estate Tax
Big Picture Retirement®
Devin Carroll
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Unless you're listening to this while flying in your own Gulfstream, federal estate taxes probably aren't something you need to worry about. In 2026, they only apply to estates over $15 million, or $30 million for married couples, so they impact a very small percentage of people.
But state-level estate and inheritance taxes are a different story.
In this episode, we break down how these lesser-known taxes work, which states still impose them, and why they can catch even well-prepared retirees off guard. While many states have eliminated these taxes to keep retirees from leaving, 12 states plus Washington, D.C. still have estate taxes, and five have inheritance taxes. Maryland is the only state that has both.
If your goal is to pass on wealth efficiently, where you live could matter more than you think.
Although this show does not provide specific tax, legal, or financial advice, you can engage Devin or John through their individual firms.
📍Contact Devin's team at https://carrolladvisory.co/podcast1
📍Contact John's team at https://www.rossandshoalmire.com/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Big Picture Retirement Show does not provide tax, legal, or financial advice. |
| 0:04.3 | Listeners are encouraged to seek out their own advisors in these areas. |
| 0:10.6 | Hey, everyone, welcome to the Big Picture Retirement Show. |
| 0:13.4 | I'm your host, Devin, joined today by my co-host, John Ross. |
| 0:17.0 | How is it? |
| 0:17.7 | John, I am so thankful that I live in Texas. |
| 0:24.3 | Right? For many reasons. Yes. The weather is not one of them. |
| 0:32.0 | Although, there is nothing better than a spring in Texas. Oh, man. No, um, uh, give me a hot summer in Texas. |
| 0:39.4 | Uh, right now, everything is yellow with pollen and I've had it. Well, there is that. But did you know that the pine tree pollen, |
| 0:44.5 | which is what we're dealing with right now, does not aggravate your allergies? No, but it aggravates everything else in my life. It absolutely drives up the memberships to the car wash. Yeah, for sure. |
| 0:50.6 | Yeah, they love pollen season. I couldn't go. I wanted, it was such a nice weekend, |
| 0:54.4 | and I wanted to go outside and sit on outdoor patio. You're not going to do it. But I would have had to spend an hour washing it all off only for it to be dirty covered in pollen. Well, 20 minutes later. I could tell you, I had a group of people to my house Saturday night. Believe it or not, I know, Devin Carroll had people to his house. |
| 1:11.9 | That is odd. |
| 1:12.7 | Yes. |
| 1:14.4 | So from... group of people to my house Saturday night. Believe it or not, I know, Devin Carroll had people to his |
| 1:11.2 | house. That is odd. Excuse me. Yes. So, Friday afternoon, I get out and I clean all the pollen |
| 1:17.8 | off everything. And I had to scrub it because you can't just get out there and wash it. Somehow it sticks. |
| 1:21.9 | Right. Yep. So I wash it all off. I get everything so clean. I even get my power washer out to clean off the concrete. |
| 1:29.0 | And I'm thinking the pollen's probably done. So that was Friday afternoon. By Saturday, it was still |
| 1:34.0 | fairly clean. By Sunday, I'm starting to look out there and go, oh, no, surely not. Nope. |
| 1:39.9 | Still have pollen. And a lot of our furniture, for whatever reason, is black. And so it, oh, |
| 1:45.2 | yeah, I get it. So that's what drives me nuts this particular time of year. And once the pollen |
... |
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