[transburgh]

So the government should get it (in the form of taxes)?

[roc]

Sure. Until we have a better organization, whose primary concern is the overall health of society, to distribute it.

Government is certainly a flawed organization. But we currently trust them with all our other tax dollars. I don't see any reason to hold estate tax dollars to a different standard than any other government revenue.

[riffer]

But the argument being made here is that spoiled kids are not deserving, so the estate tax is a just tax.

The point is: government is not deserving either, so the spoiled kids angle is bogus.

Pointing out that the government collects other taxes is simply not relevant to this aspect of the conversation.

[roc]

Except that deserving isn't a binary attribute. So pointing out the government is undeserving isn't sufficient.

My point is that we as a society have entrusted government specifically with the job of redistributing wealth to better society and that makes them the better of bad choices.

[Locke1689]

The government isn't taxing the estate itself, it's taxing the transfer. See gift tax as well.