Tax the Rich and Their Heirs

[Zorro]

A massive transfer of wealth is underway and will accelerate in the coming years. Baby boomers and the generation that preceded them currently own $84 trillion, or 81 percent of all U.S. household wealth — wealth that will before long be inherited by their children and other beneficiaries.

This extraordinary transfer of resources will further cement the economic inequality that plagues the United States because this wealth is tightly concentrated in the hands of a few. And it will be passed on as taxes on such transfers are at historic lows.

Among high-income countries, the United States has one of the lowest levels of intergenerational economic mobility, meaning a child’s economic future is heavily influenced by his or her parents’ income. We have the second-highest level of income inequality after taxes and government transfers, and the highest level of wealth inequality. These disparities are sharply skewed by race. Median black household wealth is only 9 percent that of white households, a racial wealth gap that is even larger than in 1968. New research suggests the pandemic will further increase wealth inequality, as the affluent save more and the poor earn less.

Effectively addressing these systemic inequalities will require many things. But increasing the taxation of inheritances is one vital component.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/opinion/inheritance-tax-inequality.html

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I've always thought that inheritances should be taxed as ordinary income...

There are problems like valuations of farmland and other businesses, and net future values.
But let lawyers and accountants make some money figuring out how to tax them, rather than figuring out how to avoid taxes.

[appalachiablue]

2. A dystopian neo-feudal society unless massive change