"So you're supposed to feel sorry for people in that position?"
Because, God forbid, we treat other humans as humans. They've got some form of pretend wealth so screw them.
Right?
Because, God forbid, we treat other humans as humans. They've got some form of pretend wealth so screw them.
Right?
No wealth is created when an estate gets handed over. The tax thus stops being a way to assign a percentage of wealth to public projects and becomes a accounting trick. The idea that this simple wealth transfer should be taxed at such a high rate is slly.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2010/10/estate_tax_...
The United States, as conceived, was a departure from the European system comprised mostly of wealthy land owners and destitute peasants.
In a sense, the estate tax is an unfortunate necessity. Without it you would have Paris Hilton inheriting billions absolutely tax free, and likely accumulating even more wealth not by any particular skill, but through interest alone. That much money has a sort of gravitational pull at that point if not mis-managed.