Where are you getting that the wealth has been taxed 3-4 times? Knowing someone who has inherited >1% wealth (>$10 million, but anything less than $22 million i

Where are you getting that the wealth has been taxed 3-4 times? Knowing someone who has inherited >1% wealth (>$10 million, but anything less than $22 million is exempt from inheritance tax at current caps), the principle has been taxed once so far as capital gains. When they do decide to cash some out, only the as-yet-untaxed additional capital gains will be taxed for the first time at, at most, 15%, because they aren't planning to cash out >$400k in a year anytime soon. If they take out $100k/year they only pay 9% long-term capital gains tax (first 40K is completely untaxed); the money will ultimately be taxed much, much less than earned income.