> It’s one thing to say that the giant company should come with a 15% tax passed on to an heir; it’s quite another to say that the family business should. In ma

> It’s one thing to say that the giant company should come with a 15% tax passed on to an heir; it’s quite another to say that the family business should. In many cases, the family business simply doesn’t have enough capital on hand to absorb those taxes, and the only resort the heir has is to liquidate all or some of the business to pay them. This means that small, well-run, multi-generational businesses are damaged or even lost completely. This is a great point. But, this seems like a problem that can be routed around in any number of ways without just throwing up your hands and allowing generation wealth accumulation at worst or lifelong unproductive consumption at best. And, on a startup board, it goes without saying that this is a problem that we should solve throughout the tax code and not just in case of the death tax. And I still think inheriting controlling interest in a private (or public) firm is nepotism.