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

[Canpinter]

except why would you EVER work harder to provide for your children after you die if it's taken away when you kick it?
you'll just work enough and then get rid of all your money one way or another before you die

it's money you already paid taxes on, so yeah it is effectively double taxation

the whole point of being wealthy is that you can spend it on your children

and your kids do get most of what you leave behind, current estate tax is 40% minus deductions and doesn't even kick in till after the first 5 million dollars (10 is a couple)

[Knarg]

It's very telling that the people screaming loudest for a meritocracy demand that rich people be allowed to leave their entire fortunes to their descendants, who have done nothing to earn it.

They already received the full benefits of wealthy upbringing: education, freedom from hardship, etc. Surely these young gifted people don't need further assistance.

[Canpinter]

It's very telling that the people screaming loudest for a meritocracy demand that rich people be allowed to leave their entire fortunes to people who have done nothing to earn it.

hey i worked very very hard to make sure i was born into a rich family thank you very much

[Knarg]

hey i worked very very hard to make sure i was born into a rich family thank you very much

Exactly.

Also, edited my quote for clarity.

[Alydael]

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.

The government taxes you for your whole life on your salary, home, car, other items, gas......... (I could go on but you get the picture).

What gives them the right to come when you die like grave robbers and take 75% of your estate (or tax your estate at all)?

They already taxed all of that stuff when you originally purchased it- why should there now be an additional tax on it after you are dead? So the military can buy another 10 million dollar missle to shoot at some terrorist driving a 10k dollar pick up?

That's just crazy.

That money should go where you decide. It is your money and the government has already taxed it.

[Blur4stuff]

Estate tax should be low or non-existent below a certain amount. However, if you have more money than can reasonably be spent in multiple lifetimes... island buying aside.

[Deleted]

Even the idea seems absurd. Your wealth doesn't belong to the state, it belongs to you, so it should go to whoever you wish it to go after you die.

[triplesdsu]

Hell no. As several others have said, its double dipping. Secondly, who gives a shit if their children are less "capable". They still have every right to leave stuff to their kids. They shouldn't be penalized because some parents are losers and shouldn't have bred in the first place.

[Canpinter]

The government taxes you for your whole life on your salary, home, car, other items, gas......... (I could go on but you get the picture).

What gives them the right to come when you die like grave robbers and take 75% of your estate (or tax your estate at all)?

They already taxed all of that stuff when you originally purchased it- why should there now be an additional tax on it after you are dead? So the military can buy another 10 million dollar missle to shoot at some terrorist driving a 10k dollar pick up?

That's just crazy.

That money should go where you decide. It is your money and the government has already taxed it.

again its not you paying the tax its the person you leave the money to. just like i have to pay taxes on the money my boss pays me even tho he payed taxes on it when he made it as well. estate tax is just a specialized form of income tax

[Milchshake]

As an aside. When Trump passes, I'm not sure there will be enough popcorn for the ensuing drama. 5 children with 3 different wives, it will depend greatly on Melania's relationship with the older children and how iron clad the will is. Some of the nastiest probate fights I have witnessed involved similar circumstances.

The lawyers will win for sure.

[kasuke06]

Point is, you worked very hard to provide for them. Who has the fucking right to steal what you earned for your children to give to others whom haven't done shit? Also double taxation is bad and fucking stupid on a conceptual level.

[shaunika123]

Ah yeah, the myth of "work harder and you'll get rich". Never heard of a factory worker becoming millionnaire because he was dedicated.
Regardless, if what your children receives is taxed up to 75 % (which would require an already pretty huge amount anyway), it means that 25 % would end up as pocket money. Which means if you get more, they will get more, just not all.
I thought that was grade-school level of math here

No it's not. Read what I just wrote.

That sounds like a pretty transparent excuse to disguise greed under the pretext of generosity. Not very convincing.

1. obviously this whole thing isnt about factory workers so stop saying BS
the persons who this affects can easily do less to earn less (see someone else's reagan quote somewhere)

except no, because if you thread the line below the cutoff then you can effectively give them the same without punishing them for daring to be the children of someone rich

and no it's not greed, how can a dead man be greedy in the first place?

you're the greedy and envious one for wanting my money(whether it be hard earned or not)

punishing people for wanting their children to have a better life is just complete fucking bullshit

i already payed the government the taxes for the money i earned, let me do what i want with it when i die

[Deleted]

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.

How 'more able'? And why 'more able'?

[Akka]

The government taxes you for your whole life on your salary, home, car, other items, gas......... (I could go on but you get the picture).

What gives them the right to come when you die like grave robbers and take 75% of your estate (or tax your estate at all)?

The fact that during your whole life, you benefited from them.
Or do you think that healthcare, law enforcement, justice system, labor laws, the ability to walk with the guarantee to be protected, the infrastructure that allowed these millionaire to get electricity and water for their factories and roads and rails to carry their goods, airlines where planes don't crash into each others and so on, just sprout magically out of the ground ?

- - - Updated - - -

Hell no. As several others have said, its double dipping.

And these several guys have just said bullshit and were corrected about it. Now selective reading is a pretty strong force, I know, but it doesn't change reality.

1. obviously this whole thing isnt about factory workers so stop saying BS
the persons who this affects can easily do less to earn less (see someone else's reagan quote somewhere)

So basically you recognize that this "working harder to becomes richer" is BS.
And please, Reagan on economics ? The guy who is mocked for his voodoo economics ? As a reference ? Please ?

except no, because if you thread the line below the cutoff then you can effectively give them the same without punishing them for daring to be the children of someone rich

That makes no sense. I get the feeling you have no idea how taxes work.

and no it's not greed, how can a dead man be greedy in the first place?

you're the greedy and envious one for wanting my money(whether it be hard earned or not)

punishing people for wanting their children to have a better life is just complete fucking bullshit

i already payed the government the taxes for the money i earned, let me do what i want with it when i die

That's just such a pileup of clichés, it sounds comical.

[Grym]

again its not you paying the tax its the person you leave the money to. just like i have to pay taxes on the money my boss pays me even tho he payed taxes on it when he made it as well. estate tax is just a specialized form of income tax

Different.

When your boss pay you your salary, you pay income tax. However, this is an allowable expense, meaning his company does NOT pay corprate tax on your salary.

Gross profit less expenses (your salary) becomes profit before interests and tax, this is where it get tax.

So your salary does not get double tax.

[NihilSustinet]

who cares? like you mentioned, it only applies to very high value estates (which is why the rich senators want to get rid of it). At the end of the day, it doesn't mean much, but since it only applies to people who can afford to pay it, I would rather keep it than get rid of it.

[God Save The King]

75% wouldn't be bad for the highest bracket.

Something like:

$0-5mn: 0%
$5mn-10mn: 25%
$10mn-25mn: 50%
>$25mn: 75%

Obviously brackets/percents can be adjusted (double all numbers for a couple).

This allows the vast vast majority of people to be unaffected, and allow their inheritance to move as expected.

For the tiny percent of people with massive estates, this encourages them to spend their money while alive (contributing to a more robust economy). For those concerned about kids/family not getting money from a business, chances are if it's worth more than $5mn, it's going to be incorporated, not a sole proprietorship. If it is still an SP, simply give your family a higher wage, and have them do what they want with it.

If you die with a large estate, it should be broken up and returned to the society that made it possible, and prevents dynasty families from occurring, where one wealthy person made enough money to support several generations in extravagant lifestyles.

Again, 99% of people aren't currently affected by estate tax (and should remain unaffected).


The other benefit of a relatively large amount of estate tax being 0%, is to give some level of inheritance to the family.
Let's run through an example:

Tom & Mary amass an estate of $100mn.
They have 3 children.
With my proposed brackets, there is $45mn after taxes.
Each child gets $15mn.

Some are acting like the proposal is to take everything away, when the proposal is to reduce the size of the inherited estate in extreme circumstances.

I don't personally see an issue with each child getting $15mn, but that's me.


If you reduce it to a middle class inheritance, of around $1mn, with 3 kids, they each get $333k, since taxes wouldn't kick in.

[shaunika123]

75% wouldn't be bad for the highest bracket.

Something like:

$0-5mn: 0%
$5mn-10mn: 25%
$10mn-25mn: 50%
>$25mn: 75%

Obviously brackets/percents can be adjusted (double all numbers for a couple).

This allows the vast vast majority of people to be unaffected, and allow their inheritance to move as expected.

For the tiny percent of people with massive estates, this encourages them to spend their money while alive (contributing to a more robust economy). For those concerned about kids/family not getting money from a business, chances are if it's worth more than $5mn, it's going to be incorporated, not a sole proprietorship. If it is still an SP, simply give your family a higher wage, and have them do what they want with it.

If you die with a large estate, it should be broken up and returned to the society that made it possible, and prevents dynasty families from occurring, where one wealthy person made enough money to support several generations in extravagant lifestyles.

Again, 99% of people aren't currently affected by estate tax (and should remain unaffected).

brackets are the worst thing you can do with taxes

either make it static
or make it lineary increase
otherwise you're punished for barely going over the line

[Glorious Leader]

More like I am not greedy enough to want to become rich by taking from the dead and their grieving families.

Send them fucking flowers for all i care. Dint act like you give a shit about s9mebody else.

[Sormine]

Doesn't take being uber rich over one generation to get dinged by this. Take a few generations of frugality plus prudent investing (my great grand parents and grand parents). My parents only hit 6 figures at the very end of their careers right before retirement. We're not top 20% by income on any measurement.

In my opinion people in favor of estate tax want a piece of generations of the work of my family. I can honestly say go screw yourselves.

Hate to call you out on this but if your parents are in the 6 digits and plan on leaving you even all of that money, you're not effected by the estate tax.