A SoHo real-estate mogul could have saved his boyfriend $3 million if he had only held on 13 hours longer. Fritz Lohman, famous for his exhibitions of gay art, kicked the bucket on New Year's Eve. At the end of 2009 Congress failed to push over a death tax for America's wealthiest few, so, if Lohman had lasted just a few more hours, into the new year, his estate would not have had to pay that tax.
"He would probably say, 'Why didn't they tell me? I could have waited another day,' " Charles Leslie, Lohman's partner of 48 years told the New York Post.
Leslie said the tax will force him to sell some of the commercial properties Lohman accrued over the years. And for those aging and sick millionaires considering 2010 deaths, be forewarned, the reprieve is a limited time offer. Congress plans to reinstate the tax—which applies to benefactors of over a million dollars—and even raise it, in 2011.
