Inheritance Tax

Something is missing from the current debate over the hundred-year old estate tax. Instead of eliminating it or merely scaling it back to a point beyond recognition, we should instead be considering expanding the tax on money passed from one generation to the next.

Proponents of repealing the so-called death tax, which oftentimes taxes a person's earnings twice -- once when earned and then at death -- argue that it is unfair (not to mention morbid.)

Rather than pointing out the flaws… more

We have become accustomed to thinking that taxes, like hemlines, can only go up or down. This isn't true. Over the centuries changes in the form of U.S. taxes have been at least as dramatic as changes in the rate of taxation.

For instance, most federal revenues now come from personal and corporate income taxes, and from the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. But most government revenues originally came from excise taxes on luxury items such as… more

Should death be taxed? Congressional supporters claim that this is the issue that was at the core of the failed legislation to repeal estate and gift taxes. Certainly this … more