Would you support an estate(death) tax of 75%?

[Kjalar]

Holy shit, this is one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard of.

First of all, the whole premise is dumb: if children are not "capable", either they or their children will lose all inherited money, therefore in most cases money WILL re-distribute naturally anyway.

Second, as many people have already pointed out here, double taxation is a no-no. How about raising taxes for very rich people instead?

Third, what's the point of working your ass off, if you can't pass anything you earned to your children when you die? This idea is a huge demotivator.

[A dot Ham]

he would then go on to donate $3 billion dollars (roughly 99% of his total wealth) to charity.

Is that like the Clinton's donating their earning to the charity the "Clinton Foundation"?

https://www.charities.org/what-perce...ons-go-charity

http://charity.lovetoknow.com/What_P..._Go_to_Charity

There is a reason non-profits are under fire and why the IRS has taken special interest as of late.

Furthermore, that only proves MY point. He doesn't trust the government to spend the money appropriately, or that they will be smart, or fiscally responsible with that kind of money.

IF he truly feels the US Government can do the most good with his money... donate to them. Since he does not, we have to at least question why.

[Barnabas]

He and Bill Gates started an initiation to give away the majority of their wealth prior to death and have convinced other billionaires to do the same....

They're leaving money for their children to be fine, but they're most certainly not hoarding it for the kids.

Good for them. They are grown ass men and can decide what they want to do with their own money. Telling other people what to do with their money I'm against it.

[Independent voter]

Holy shit, this is one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard of.

First of all, the whole premise is dumb: if children are not "capable", either they or their children will lose all inherited money, therefore in most cases money WILL re-distribute naturally anyway.

Second, as many people have already pointed out here, double taxation is a no-no. How about raising taxes for very rich people instead?

Third, what's the point of working your ass off, if you can't pass anything you earned to your children when you die? This idea is a huge demotivator.

The tax exists. It's not 75% though.

[Gamdwelf]

Holy shit, this is one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard of.

First of all, the whole premise is dumb: if children are not "capable", either they or their children will lose all inherited money, therefore in most cases money WILL re-distribute naturally anyway.

Second, as many people have already pointed out here, double taxation is a no-no. How about raising taxes for very rich people instead?

Third, what's the point of working your ass off, if you can't pass anything you earned to your children when you die? This idea is a huge demotivator.

What's wrong with double taxation it happens all the time.

[Faroth]

Good for them. They are grown ass men and can decide what they want to do with their own money. Telling other people what to do with their money I'm against it.

That's a fair stance, but what here makes him sound like a greedy old man?

[Barnabas]

What's wrong with double taxation it happens all the time.

Because it's not constitutional. Go get a job if you need money that bad.

http://www.iwf.org/blog/2797199/Supr...Constitutional

[Celista]

Yeah I'm not really sure why it's so hard for most people to live below their means at all. I have many friends who make a decent living for a single person but it's all gone by the end of every month so me how.

I don't know why either, it just seems that way. It is easy for me too.

Teaching your kids to have a good work ethic and know the value of a dollar goes beyond living below one's means, though.

[Barnabas]

That's a fair stance, but what here makes him sound like a greedy old man?

Because he is a greedy old stooge. He's an asshole also. He won't even help his own grand daughter because of some documentary she appeared in. What a loser. It's part of why I cringe when he endorses anything and people try to say what a nice guy he is. He's a dickhead.

[Faroth]

Because he is a greedy old stooge. He's an asshole also. He won't even help his own grand daughter because of some documentary she appeared in. What a loser. It's part of why I cringe when he endorses anything and people try to say what a nice guy he is. He's a dickhead. This type of endorsement is another slap in the face.

So emotional response with no basis to present as reasoning. Okay.

[Barnabas]

So emotional response with no basis to present as reasoning. Okay.

Facts are there. If you like warren buffet's fake ass persona by all means keep lying to yourself. If you had a job you'd probably not want to be taxed twice either.

[Taso]

If I adhered to the founding fathers idea then yes but because I am a person with free will I object. I don't see a need for it. If anything it's a petty excuse to expand government give it the power to be wasteful and take more of are hard earned cash.

[Kjalar]

What's wrong with double taxation it happens all the time.

I know, but the fact that it happens doesn't make it right. I don't support that.
Anyway, this is not my only argument against this "death" tax.

[Amerrol]

I voted 50%, but I think it should be less. I think ideally it would be a progressively higher estate tax, capping at 50% on amounts of a billion plus. There is no reason that a billionaires children can't live comfortably after spiting half a billion dollars for the rest of their lives.

Could even add a clause that the amount the government would get could be donated to charity instead, but that would have to be highly regulated so as to not funnel money into some bullshit charity that then only helps the rich.

[Barnabas]

If I adhered to the founding fathers idea then yes but because I am a person with free will I object. I don't see a need for it. If anything it's a petty excuse to expand government give it the power to be wasteful and take more of are hard earned cash.

Exactly and even some senators are concerned about the tax code changes just ballooning government further.

[Zecora]

When you die your estate has to pay an estate or "death" tax. Republicans coined the term "death" tax and they've been working hard to reduce it. For example, only 2 out of a thousand estates have to pay any estate tax now.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federa...ral-estate-tax

It's an ideal tax because the person you're taxing is dead and won't care.

Why pass on all that wealth to children who might not be as capable? Redistribute the wealth and let it fall into more able hands.

We can use all that money to ease the tax burden on the poor or for whatever.

Warren Buffet is for this idea.

You're giving way too little info. Is this applicable to all? Estates in excess of a certain sum? What sum? Is it a tax simply on liquid assets? Does it include property? What about houses where the person that inherits actually lives?

Too little info.

[Faroth]

Facts are there. If you like warren buffet's fake ass persona by all means keep lying to yourself. If you had a job you'd probably not want to be taxed twice either.

You're assuming I don't have a job?

You made a statement in response to THIS particular article. I asked why. You gave no answer. Now you're tossing insults.

What's more, my question wasn't even related to the estate tax. I said it's a fair stance to not want others to tell people what to do with their money. I agree with disliking the estate tax. I don't like the idea of someone losing what their parents leave for them either. None of that is relevant to the question I asked, though.

[shrunken]

Is that like the Clinton's donating their earning to the charity the "Clinton Foundation"?

No, since you asked. A cursory google search would reveal that his donations are outside his sphere of influence.

[Doctor Amadeus]

No, because 75% of say 1 million or so is too much, however 75% of over 100 million is fair, so it would depend.

[Airlick]

Death tax is absolutely the worst thing ever and should not exist in any shape or form. It doesn't matter if it's a dollar or a billion dollars, it is money that you saved up on your own. The government already took a share of it. Taking another share just because you happened to have died is legallised robbery (though that's mostly what taxes are, anyway).