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I'm not sure why a 100% estate tax is un-American. It's not like anyone "earns" an inheritance (I say this as someone who would benefit from a low estate tax.)
by jinfiesto 9y ago
I'm not sure why a 100% estate tax is un-American. It's not like anyone "earns" an inheritance (I say this as someone who would benefit from a low estate tax.)
- zip1234 9y agoBecause of personal liberty. If you want all of your money to go to your kids, why can't you do that? Inheritance is as much about the person that died as it is the person/people receiving the inheritance.
- gscott 9y agoOften adult children work in the business and they do feel they have earned their inheritance.
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoOK, here's a person who owned a bunch of property, and they died. So now they don't own the property. Who should own it? In America, the default assumption is not that the government owns something until proven otherwise.
- becomethrow 9y agogiven concepts like eminent domain and their historical use, I think the assumption with property actually /is/ that the government owns it until proven otherwise.
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoEminent domain doesn't mean that the government owns it. It means that, if they have good reason, they can take it, and they have to pay you fair value for doing so. That's kind of the opposite of "the government owning it until proven otherwise".