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Getting a leg up in life because your parents left you a big inheritance, is unfair to those who don't. There are many different types of fairness, not just one
by egonschiele 3y ago
Getting a leg up in life because your parents left you a big inheritance, is unfair to those who don't. There are many different types of fairness, not just one.
- bluedevil2k 3y agoThis is one of the silliest comments I’ve read on HN: it’s not fair to have successful parents that love you, therefore the government must step in and fix that.
- CPLX 3y agoThey aren’t taxing love they’re taxing money. We always tax money when it transfers from one person or entity to another.
- bluedevil2k 3y agoNo we don’t. In fact we rarely tax intra-family money transfers. When I pay for my kids’ college, that’s not taxed. Buy then a car at 16 - untaxed.
- CPLX 3y agoRight and give them the car two years later and it is taxed, subject to the gift tax exceptions and so on. Proving my point that the rule is that money is taxed when it changes hands and the exceptions are exceptions.
- sokoloff 3y agoA couple gifting their 18 (or 38) year old kid a car is unlikely to exceed the gift tax exemption.
- Patxitxi 3y agoWe should tax money to use it for love. Not love money to not use in anything else than private enjoyment.
- medvezhenok 3y agoThe argument is slightly different. It's not economically efficient to allocate wealth to children according to their parents' abilities (as opposed to the children's abilities). Doing the latter (as opposed to the former) will maximize the aggregate wealth of a society.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoIt's not "fair" that I'm only slightly above average height and will therefor never be an NBA star. It's not "fair" that I'm a competent musician at best -- far, far below professional level. Are you arguing that no one should be allowed to be a pro basketball player or musician? You should go read a story called Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.
- tylerhou 3y agoYes, it isn't fair that some people are taller than others, or more talented. The way we account for that is is not by outlawing behaviors. Rather, we levy progressive income taxes so that people who are lucky can help people who are less lucky. The most talented basketball players pay a large income tax that helps provide services to those who were not born lucky. I don't see why estate taxes are any different. It is not fair that some people are born into rich families while others are born into poor families. Nobody is suggesting we outlaw inheritance. But levying an appropriate tax on inheritance and preventing tax avoidance schemes is one way to compensate the unlucky. Vonnegut was also a socialist (according to Wikipedia).
- Patxitxi 3y agoAgree
- Turing_Machine 3y agoSorry, you're dodging. Most professional musicians (and other artists) are far from wealthy. Should they have to pay high taxes as well, for "fairness"?
- Turing_Machine 3y agoMaybe instead we could, e.g., force streaming services to play an equal number of songs from every musician (or imagined musician), regardless of talent. Want to listen to Bach? Okay, but you have to listen to five hundred songs from untalented randos before hearing a Bach piece. That would be "fair", yes?
- Patxitxi 3y agoAgree 200%