So why should inheritances be taxed again? They've already been taxed at least once - when the original wealth was earned. If you want positive social mobilit

So why should inheritances be taxed again? They've already been taxed at least once - when the original wealth was earned. If you want positive social mobility, then you need to encourage generational wealth. The rags-to-riches, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps in a single generation story is more romantic, but the more realistic path to advancement is to build on the foundations of the family nest egg. Taking a haircut on that family wealth each generation makes it harder to climb the ladder from working class to lower middle class to upper middle class.