First, this letter is nothing new, this should be marked with "(2001)". As for the content, this letter gives no evidence of its claims, and simply relies on t

First, this letter is nothing new, this should be marked with "(2001)". As for the content, this letter gives no evidence of its claims, and simply relies on the emotional power of the phrase "death should not be a taxable event". It makes vague, unsupported assertions about the effect of the tax on saving, the cost of enforcing and collecting the tax, the amount collected by the tax, and the prevalence of avoiding the tax. Without actual numbers, though, it's impossible to argue with effectively, which is exactly the point of this rhetorical style. The letter also falls into the narrowly hyper-rational trap of elevating vague economic principles to the level of an absolute moral stance. Just because some policy doesn't meet a completely artificial and oversimplified ideal of economic efficiency doesn't mean it's definitely the wrong policy. The real world is more complicated than an economic model. Ultimately, the most important thing to understand is that this letter was a political statement in support of George W Bush's proposed tax policy in 2001, and not a serious argument. The content is no basis for a reasoned discussion of estate tax policy; it's a propaganda piece.