rathi

Strangely enough, the inheritance tax seems to receive a lot of hatred from those normally critical of our current income tax system. The question is simple: Why is this so? Taxes, at least to some degree, are necessary for our current government. And taxes are going to be taken from someone at the end of the day. Thus it would make sense to try create a tax system that generates the required revenue while being as far as possible. An inheritance tax is probably the fairest tax their is. While every other tax takes the money of hardworking Americans, the inheritance tax does not take away the money a person has worked for. Now granted, its not like inheritance taxes are perfect, but compared to income taxes, don't they steal less from the working man?

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He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an axe into somebody's face.

ARealConservative

I would certainly have much less problems with an inheritance tax if an income tax didn't exist.

Patrickt

Let's see, I work for years, save my money, live frugally, and hope to give the money to someone I care about when I die. But, you think that's not fair. No, what's fair is for the government to take the money and give it to...you.

And, why should they wait until I die? Why not just say, no one can have more than $50,000 and if you get it we'll take it. Why not take everything someone has when they turn sixty-seven and force them to live on Social Security. Hey, that would be fair.

The government doesn't have an amount of money they need. They want all they can squeeze.

rathi

I don't see how they are connected. Please elaborate.

Actually, I'm going to have pay for the debt that the boomers have been racking up for the last 20 years. You think thats fair?

How is this connected to the topic?


How is that relevant to the discussion? They can either squeeze it from you when you are alive, or from when you are dead. Or are you an anarchist who wants to destroy taxation itself?

Iriemon

If they had a higher inheritance tax, you could pay less income taxes and save more money.

That would take away incentive for people to work hard.

No one would save for retirement.

Folks in most other countries get squeezed a lot more. In this country in the 50s the top tax rate was 91%, not 35%. You could get squeezed a hell of a lot more.

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Matthew 5:9

bigsmitty

If it were up to me, I'd cut income taxes and spending proportionately by at least half.

On the inheritance- It's being taxed once when it's earned, taxed a few more times, then taxed again when it's inherited? Doesn't sound right to me.

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"History teaches me that most bad government results from too much government"

---Thomas Jefferson

Mr. X

Clearly taxes are necessary to some degree to run the government. This raises two questions: What amount is necessary and what is the best way to raise this amount? Since your strictly talking about the inheritance tax here and not taxes in general, I'll stick to the second question.

The inheritance tax comes into play after the money of the hardworking American has already been taxed. Aside from filthy-rich-beyond-belief types such as Warren Buffett who has generously come out to support the inheritance tax, there are millions of hardworking Americans who oppose it. One reason is that many businesses and farms are family run. Many people would like to see their business remain that way and the inheritance tax places an unfair burden on them by taxing them twice.

The issue here isn't whether Bill Gates' kids deserve untold millions that they didn't work for, it's the middle class Americans who have worked hard for their money and would like to leave something for their children.

I think the inheritance tax is an incredibly unfair way of collecting taxes. A flat tax rate would be far more equitable and fair to everyone because you pay based on what you earned. Scrap the inheritance tax and if you believe that the government should collect on your things when you die, write them in your will.

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Hell is other people.

ARealConservative

An income tax is a tax on labor for a year. An inheritance tax is a tax on the accumulated labor over ones lifetime. If we get rid of the yearly labor tax, I still wouldn't like the death tax, but I would hate it far less.

Iriemon

No necessarily -- most of estates are made up of assets which have big capital gains which have never been taxed.

But money that has been earned is taxed over and over again. That is the way it works. You earn money, it is taxed. You buy a burger, it is taxed to the corporation. The Corp pays an employe, it is taxed again. And over and over.

That is the way it works. Every time the money is transferred, it becomes income to a new person, and that is a taxable event.

In an inheritance tax, the guy who earned the money is not taxed again, he's dead. It is effectively the heir who pays the tax.

And given that, why should Paris Hilton get a hundred million by inheritance tax free, so that people who work for money they get pay a higher tax?

rathi

Very few Americans currently own 2/4million million in assets and need to worry about their farm and businesses. Small farms are a covered exemption. And getting taxed twice is a meaningless term. An increase in estate tax would create a corresponding decrease in income tax, so the money paid is the same. Its like taking 1000 bucks from your right now, or taking 500 now and 500 when you die.

Middle Class American's tend to not to leave 2/4 million in assets over their lifetime. And they still can leave money, their kids just get 1.6 million instead of 2 million. Its not fair to deprive rich kids of their .3 million that they didn't work, is it?

I support inheritance taxes over income taxes simply because the working man deserves his money more than the kids of the rich man.