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The income by the inheritor was never earned. Hence it's perfectly logical to tax it.
by MisterBastahrd 9y ago
The income by the inheritor was never earned. Hence it's perfectly logical to tax it.
- julian_1 9y agoSo you would be in favor of taxing someone's social security or charitable receipts - since the benefits are not earned?
- twblalock 9y agoSocial security benefits are taxed.
- votepaunchy 9y agoTwice.
- closeparen 9y agoTaxing a transfer payment is an accounting fiction equivalent to simply providing a larger benefit. (Social Security, by the way, is simply deferred earnings. You may be thinking of Medicare or disability?)
- walshemj 9y agoI think you mean capital not income
- RhysU 9y agoBut then it does not make sense to consider the size of the deceased's estate when deciding if the inheritance should be taxed. And the US does precisely that.
- stale2002 9y agoYes it was. It was earned by the person who made the money. Would you rather all the wealthy people in the world just blow all their money on yachts or something? Because that is the alternative. Why bother saving money if it is all just going to be confiscated when you die. Instead you should just blow it all on ridiculous things that help nobody but yourself in the immediate time frame.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- dd36 9y agoOr they spend it on politicians.
- mmierz 9y agoIt doesn’t help “nobody”. It helps people that build yachts. And then the people who sell things to the people that build yachts. And on, and on. Working people spend their money.
- stale2002 9y agoSo would you rather yacht builders get more money, or would you rather people's children get a good education because their parents paid for it?
- mLuby 9y agoThat's a false dichotomy, since the yacht builders will be taxed and taxes pay for a good education for all (in a far less arbitrary way than wealthy parents' charity).
- meebs 9y agoWould you rather the N of yacht builders' children get good education or the n (where n <<< N) children of wealthy parents get good education? Your argument is foolish.
- MisterBastahrd 9y agoYes, I'd rather them blow all their money on yachts. Because then their money would be entering the economy where it would be used to pay for goods and services and employees. You know what happens to the money when the government taxes an estate? That money gets put back into the economy in the next calendar year. While it might be good for individuals to have savings, it's better for the economy when money gets spent. The reason that Gary Cohn got so many shrugs when he asked CEOs how many of them would expand businesses with the money from the tax cuts is simple: they hire more people when they have more demand. Making rich people richer or giving rich kids more of their parents' wealth does jack shit for the economy.