Estate tax

The estate tax is a tax levied on the estates of individuals upon their deaths. In the early 1900's, when progressivism was strong and politicians became enamored of socialism, the estate tax was heralded as an equalizer. President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed an inheritance tax whose "primary objective should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of those swollen fortunes, which it is certainly of no benefit to this country to perpetuate." Roosevelt would later say that the tax should be directed at "malefactors of great wealth, the wealthy criminal class."

"The Revenue Act of 1916 brought back the estate tax and introduced a new tax, the modern-day income tax. Unlike its predecessors, this estate tax would be different. First, it was no longer just about revenue – now it was seen as a tool to address societal inequities. It had become a political tax – a method to accomplish wealth redistribution. As a result, when this war ended, this estate tax did not. Despite sizable budget surpluses, Congress increased rates and added the gift tax on lifetime transfers. The estate tax was seen as a key method to redistribute wealth."

Just like corporate taxes and regulations, only the largest can afford the specialist accountants and lawyers to defend them. Meanwhile, the middle class gets routinely decimated.

In 2009, the number of estate tax returns filed at the federal level in the United States was 47,320, upon which $21.583 billion of estate tax was collected.

Tea Party speculative tie-in

Estate tax charts

USA Today article 2010-07-21

Wikipedia article on "Inheritance tax"