I don't disagree, but the problem is that writing laws is really damned hard. There is a lot of complexity in the real world, a whole lot of special cases to th

I don't disagree, but the problem is that writing laws is really damned hard. There is a lot of complexity in the real world, a whole lot of special cases to think about, and also a lot of people who stand to make a lot of money if they can find the holes. Intuitively you would think that writing a really simple law like "each person must pay X% of income in taxes, no exceptions" would work, except that that's how we got the almost-universally-despised Alternative Minimum Tax. This is also why laws also tend to have lots of unintended consequences. >> If you are suppose to pay X% of the income you make from transactions in the US or money transferred to heirs then you should pay that X%. Just for fun, let's see if I can avoid that tax... 1) What if I transfer the money overseas, put it in a trust, then transfer control of the trust to my heirs? It's not a transaction in the US. 2) What if I create a tiny, worthless company, give my heirs all the stock, pay the miniscule taxes on that value, and then contrive to make the company worth more? eg, lend it a bunch of money at no interest, or buy a bunch of stock, or purchase a lot of whatever it ostensibly makes? 3) How about if I just buy a ton of life insurance on myself with my heirs as the beneficiaries? Sure, it'll cost a lot, but as long as the overhead is less than the tax bill it's a net win. That's off the top of my head. Pay me a few millions bucks to do this and I guarantee I can do better. :)