The Real Estate Tax Problem

There are several truths about the estate tax that need explanation. The first is that this tax affects less than 2% of the population. The second is that virtually no one, like with the income tax, pays the actual rate delineated by their assets. But there is a problem with the tax. As can be seen below, at the extreme end of the spectrum, taxes as a percentage of assets actually decrease. This, in my view, is the trouble with the Estate Tax. Its greatest purpose, in my mind, is not to generate revenue, but to prevent the formation of an oligarchy in this nation. Those who would lambaste the government for some sort of authoritarianism inherent in taking some of the fortune of the deceased should consider price in freedom society’s pay when too few accumulate too much wealth. Consider the price that Florence paid at the hands of the Medici, or the price Rome paid for the Juliae. If there is anything history teaches us, it is that Republicanism and inherited privilege cannot long coexist.