Dollars are taxed everytime they change hands, so this "twice" (or more) argument is pointless. Anyway, maybe you, speaking generically, worked hard for your money, maybe you didn't, every man likes to believe he's a hard worker. Maybe the hard work you did was immoral or criminal. So that's not necessarily a sufficient exemption. I have several ideas in mind for expenditures that would, if made, be illegal and/or immoral, so it is NOT my choice what to do with my money, not entirely. At any rate, if you are proud of your hard work, why deny that to your children? I say, compel them to work hard, too. That aint gonna happen if you give them a handout.
Warren Buffett could not have said it better, since that is also his view. (Although I think your 100% suggestion is over the top.)
Interesting. Our society is, and I've put it this way before, becoming a game of Texas Hold'em but with a couple of extra rules. One extra is that the current occupants of certain seats get to "adjust" the pocket cards they draw, say by improving the rank value by a rank or two, or by making them both suited, to continue my example. That of course slightly skews the game in favor of those people in those seats, even though everyone at the table may be a good player and giving the game their best. The other extra rule is that the occupants of those seats, when they're ready to get up, get to choose who can take their seat next.
A dead man paying taxes? Nonsense. The living pay taxes. The living pay an income tax, a tax on income from a gift...money they never actually earned. So his beneficiaries get a few less million...surely something to cry over. Once again, this situation illustrates the lunacy of the right. The beneficiaries didn't earn the money, so the money is not taxed twice for them. The beneficiaries didn't earn the money...so why do they deserve it in the first place? The right wing goons always talk about the value of hard work, making your own way in life, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, that builds the proper character... What happens is that beneficiaries who never had to earn money...get it handed to them. That doesn't build character. That is not earning the money. If there was moral consistency in the goonish right wingers...they would be in favor of forcing spoiled rich kids to earn a living, to make their way on their own...not just sponge off their parents death.
Try to follow your own string. If the inheritors actually earned it, then they would already have it. They would not be inheriting it. See how that works?
Dollars are taxed when they change hands due to a transaction! Giving your family money on your death is not a transaction - or rather, should not be seen as a transaction (which is how the government sees it). As for the immoral/criminal argument, you're grasping here. There are other laws intended to police that. The Estate Tax was not designed to capture illegally made dollars. Lastly, most people, by the time they have died to pass on a large fortune have older children whose habits are already developed/ingrained. Giving them your net worth is a gift to help them along. Buffet's philosophy is one while he is alive and has nothing to do with the Estate Tax. It is each individual's choice to develop their children as they see fit, in a way they best determine that child's growth is to proceed. Who are you to insert yourself between them and their child and tell them what is right? What you're doing is playing the part of Big Government and saying "You should encourage your children to work harder, not give them a handout. We'll take those dollars from you to prevent you making that choice."
Is that the best you've got? I already said the dollars are being taxed twice. The Dead Man's money is being taxed twice. Try again.
Because they're family. The same reason my wife gets my medical benefits, despite not having worked for them. Now, if you're talking about STRANGERS, then I completely agree with you. They didn't earn the money, why do they deserve it? Of course, that goes against EVERYTHING the Left promotes, right? Redistribution of wealth. So I ask you, are you willing to keep that statement in ALL aspects of wealth distribution?