Well, there's one race that may be happening I actually care about.

[East Coast Hustle]

I have no real opinion on the inheritance tax.

On the one hand, there's the idea that people didn't earn what they are inheriting.

On the other, they person leaving it to them MIGHT have, in which case it's theirs to do with as they wish, including giving it to their ungrateful brat who didn't earn it and will probably squander it all on hookers and blow anyway.

On the third hand, the people who screech the loudest against inheritance tax are generally the same people who want to cut welfare programs because it gives people a "free handout". Which is of course, nothing like daddy giving you a free handout when he kicks the bucket.

On the fourth hand, the government is probably going to end up using it to fund a secret war in South America that's being fought over hookers and blow, and who has the right to sell them in 'Murrica.

So, in conclusion, I don't really give a fuck.

I now consider myself to have a more-informed opinion and have adopted your position on the matter.

[Phox]

Glad to be of service, ECH. 

[Faust]

I have no real opinion on the inheritance tax.

On the one hand, there's the idea that people didn't earn what they are inheriting.

On the other, they person leaving it to them MIGHT have, in which case it's theirs to do with as they wish, including giving it to their ungrateful brat who didn't earn it and will probably squander it all on hookers and blow anyway.

On the third hand, the people who screech the loudest against inheritance tax are generally the same people who want to cut welfare programs because it gives people a "free handout". Which is of course, nothing like daddy giving you a free handout when he kicks the bucket.

On the fourth hand, the government is probably going to end up using it to fund a secret war in South America that's being fought over hookers and blow, and who has the right to sell them in 'Murrica.

So, in conclusion, I don't really give a fuck.

Thank you, Shiva.

[Disco Pickle]

I have no real opinion on the inheritance tax.

On the one hand, there's the idea that people didn't earn what they are inheriting.

On the other, they person leaving it to them MIGHT have, in which case it's theirs to do with as they wish, including giving it to their ungrateful brat who didn't earn it and will probably squander it all on hookers and blow anyway.

On the third hand, the people who screech the loudest against inheritance tax are generally the same people who want to cut welfare programs because it gives people a "free handout". Which is of course, nothing like daddy giving you a free handout when he kicks the bucket.

On the fourth hand, the government is probably going to end up using it to fund a secret war in South America that's being fought over hookers and blow, and who has the right to sell them in 'Murrica.

So, in conclusion, I don't really give a fuck.

I love that hookers and blow made it into this twice. 

[Cain]

I can make a proper argument for inheritance tax.  It's fairly boring though, and involves no hookers or blow.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

I can make a proper argument for inheritance tax.  It's fairly boring though, and involves no hookers or blow.

I'm interested.

[Cain]

Basically, money = political power.  Money + families + political power = aristocracy.

By allowing especially large sums of money to be passed down through family lines untaxed, you are setting up a system whereby power is concentrated in the hands of a smaller number of blood relatives.  From a meritocratic point of view, the worst outcome of this is that you can have political dynasties with vast amounts of power, but led by individuals who are incapable of even earning that kind of money, let alone having the capacity for reasonable use of political power on top of that.  Unearned power controlled by morons becomes a certainty in an aristocratic system, by virtue of mathematics.

[Disco Pickle]

I can respect that view.

But what happens to the money collected?  Those same political players' children are likely going to remain in politics in some form.

It seems to me they'd just use it as another way to enrich themselves through the state.

[Cramulus]

There's a good video at Khan academy called "When Capitalism is Great and Not-so-great" -- it's pretty basic, it outlines the differences between socialism and capitalism, but he does touch on the inheritance tax.

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/when-capitalism-is-great-and-not-so-great?playlist=History

tl;dw version: the reason we like capitalism to begin with is because it's a meritocracy. You put something in, you get something out. Hard work pays off. When too much of the economy is being trickled along bloodlines rather than circulated, it stops looking like a meritocracy. It's one of the properties of free market capitalism that perhaps needs to be kept in check, because on a long enough time line, it undermines the reasons we want to be capitalists anyway.

[Scribbly]

My favourite argument was made by Rawls. To avoid getting too spammy, it can be summed up as; from a hypothetical position of ignorance, without knowing what level of intelligence/physical fitness/social position you will inherit, it is most logical to lobby for a society which makes the most provision for the least fortunate; working to minimize the impact of luck on lifestyle.

Therefore, it is better for the majority that those few with great resources give them up and redistribute them into programs such as education, healthcare and infrastructure, which benefit everyone (including the relatives of the deceased), than it is for the minority to pass on their savings to their relatives after death.

It isn't perfect; you can't completely mitigate the luck of the draw when it comes to birth, but measures such as inheritance tax help to move towards a more just society in which the circumstances of ones birth have less impact on the prospects one enjoys than in other, less just societies.

I think this ties in nicely to Cain's argument.

[LMNO]

I'd like to point out that if you have enough of an estate to qualify for the tax, it's insanely easy to set up ways to shelter it from the Tax Man.

[Disco Pickle]

ok, I understand these arguments, even if I don't entirely agree with them.

But answer me this: How does a moral society reconcile the immorality of taking wealth from one family's heirs to give to others (assuming that it would even be put to that use at all) for the crime of acquiring "more than their fair share" (whatever that is).

If a citizen did it, it would be robbery, no matter what noble cause for which he used it. 

[Scribbly]

ok, I understand these arguments, even if I don't entirely agree with them.

But answer me this: How does a moral society reconcile the immorality of taking wealth from one family's heirs to give to others (assuming that it would even be put to that use at all) for the crime of acquiring "more than their fair share" (whatever that is).

If a citizen did it, it would be robbery, no matter what noble cause for which he used it.

Society is what has enabled these individuals to obtain wealth in their lifetime; by supplying security, labor and access to resources.

The immorality would be allowing these individuals to pass the wealth on to people who have no claim to it other than the circumstances of their birth, rather than redistributing the wealth in a way which benefits the society which gave them the opportunity to live their lives in a fulfilled manner.

[LMNO]

ok, I understand these arguments, even if I don't entirely agree with them.

But answer me this: How does a moral society reconcile the immorality of taking wealth from one family's heirs to give to others (assuming that it would even be put to that use at all) for the crime of acquiring "more than their fair share" (whatever that is).

If a citizen did it, it would be robbery, no matter what noble cause for which he used it. 

Please stop perpetuating the false comparison of a citizen (or family) to StateCorp™.

They are not the same.  Any comparisons made between the two to illustrate "unfairness" is flawed.

[Cain]

I justify it on the basis of "stop whining you rich fucks, or I'll come to your mansion with tanks and take the rest.  FFS".