Question

The estate tax in the United States is a progressive tax on the estate of a deceased person before their property (real estate, stocks and bonds, business interests, etc.) is transferred to their heirs. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt proposed a federal estate tax, saying, "The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the State because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government." The estate tax was passed in the Emergency Revenue Act of 1916 in preparation for WWI. The first estate tax was imposed on the value of an estate over $50,000 (roughly $850,000 in today’s dollars) at a graduated rate of one to five percent.

The debate surrounding the estate tax has existed in many forms since Teddy Roosevelt's proposal. It has become especially heated in recent years with the rise of an anti-estate tax movement. This movement really began in 1993 when a group of wealthy families, under the lead of the Mars family, began a Washington lobbying campaign against what they would soon term the "death tax" because of its political advantages. While the debate is often framed only as a class-war debate (with the wealthy being seen as the potential benefactors of a ban and the poor the losers), it also encompasses other questions that are unrelated to class and wealth. The effect on the US fiscal budget is one consideration that is particularly heavily debated with some estimating the costs in the hundreds of billions of dollars and other estimating much lower costs. This question is particularly sensitive in the context of another debate on the extent of any fiscal problems in the US which would also effect thinking on the ability of the US to absorb tax revenue losses of any kind. Another question surrounds the extent of economic impacts. One particularly extensively debated topic among scholars and politicians alike is how estate taxes affect wealthy savings rates and corresponding levels of consumption and economic generation.

Is the estate tax unfair to the wealthy? Why or why not?

Could you argue that the assessing the estate tax constitutes “double taxation”?

Do you believe that having or not having the estate tax really matters economically in the big picture?

Do you think that removing the estate tax would reduce what individuals pass on to charity?

Would getting rid of the estate tax be an irresponsible thing to do?

How does the estate tax in the United States compare to that of other countries?

Answer 1