In testimony to congress, Warren Buffett expressed his opinion that the inheritance taxes were meant to recirculate accumulated great wealth and that repealing them would support an undesirable "aristocratic dynasty of wealth."
Republican arguments in favor of repealing the so called "death tax," permanently, mention two concepts they think are unfair. One is that the money has already been taxed and the other is that to satisfy inheritance tax requirements, heirs are forced to break up family businesses or farms and sell assets at what might not be an appropriate time or fair value.
The idea that our earnings are taxed more than one time is pretty weak to me. First of all, we are not taxing the one that earned it (they're dead), we're taxing the heirs who did not earn it. Besides, most money is taxed every time it changes hands. It is taxed when earned, when you buy or sell something, when you win the lottery, gamble or make money on a game show, receive a large gift and more. Using gift taxes as the most similar -- are not the heirs receiving a large gift?
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