Estate Tax

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the American estate tax and the moral issues surrounding it. It asks the question if government can provide services to a dead person, since estate tax is merely a death tax. The paper claims that this progressive tax is only that in theory, and it does not distribute the wealth more evenly amongst the people.

Table of Contents:
History of The Estate Tax
Many are Impacted
An Estate Tax Generates Little Revenue, but Significant Impact
The Burden is Not Primarily on The Wealthy.
The Estate Tax Dampens Savings and Impacts Small Business
Practices of Avoidance Renders The Tax Regressive
Charitable Giving has Not Been Shown to be Impacted.
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The never ending battle over the estate tax or death tax as it has been called in recent political sound bytes is a reflection of the conflicting principles by which the United States was founded. While on the one hand, there is strong opposition to the creation of an aristocracy in this country, there is an even greater sentiment against government controlling people's destiny through the application of a tax, especially a progressive one which has the semblance of socio-economic engineering. Add to that the repulsion the American public feels at the mention of any tax, progressive or not, and it's no wondered that this form of a transfer tax has come and gone on many more than one occasion. However, all the rhetoric aside, when looking at the estate tax what we see is a mechanism that is not able to meet expectations. Essentially, the estate tax should be eliminated because it just does not work."

More papers on Estate Tax:

• Persuasive Essay # 146545 : "The Estate Tax Must Be Repealed"
• Essay # 50354 : "Estate Planning"
• Analytical Essay # 138276 : "Estate Inheritance Tax"

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