Originally Posted by tnkrdrvr

A lot of Constitutional scholars see the 4th amendment as potentially blocking a “wealth tax”. It took a Constitutional amendment to enact the income tax. As far as the rest, I am very opposed to the idea of anyone but me deciding how much I should pass on to my descendants. For the most part inheritance taxes hit the upper middle class/ small business owners the hardest. Their estate may exceed the $15 million dollar minimum (didn’t look it up), but can’t structure it to avoid the inheritance tax the way the very wealthy can. Especially true for small business owners who may be asset rich and cash poor. It’s the same as the income tax. If your W2 says $500k, many would call you rich and say it’s your “duty” to pay an obscene tax bill. A truly rich individual would take in several million, but it would be structured as capital gains or other methods to minimize tax liability and result in a smaller tax Bill than the guy whose W2 says $500k.