Intangible trouble.(paroposed legislation would exempt Florida trustees from intangibles tax)(Brief Article)

Talk about a trade imbalance: If you are a trustee domiciled in a foreign country and manage a trust in Florida, you don't have to pay the state's notorious intangibles tax on those trust assets.

If you are a trustee domiciled in Florida, you do.

Thank Florida TaxWatch, the Tallahassee nonprofit watchdog group, for pointing out this rather strange aspect of our least favorite tax.

To illustrate the magnitude of the problem, TaxWatch refers to a 1999 study by the Florida Bankers Association. The study says more than $7 billion of assets held in trusts created by Florida law firms ended up with out-of-state trustees because of the intangibles tax. …