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by refurb 3706 days ago
No, the point of estate tax is to prevent generational inheritance, not to re-coupe failed cap gains.

Yet a lot of countries with low inequity don't have them. Canada, Sweden, etc.

2 comments

Canada doesn't have an estate tax, but it has something largely equivalent: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/08/estate-pl...

Sweden only very recently (2005) repealed its inheritance tax after centuries of having one. So the current inequity levels in sweden occurred under inheritance tax. Prior to 2005 the inheritance tax rate in sweden was 60%, higher than the estate tax in the US. And vastly more people hit the tax in sweden as the exemption was a mere $8600 USD.

So if anything Sweden is evidence that a stiff estate/inheritance tax helps prevent inequity. We'll see if that changes.

Sweden used to have it.

I know this is not contradicting what you said, it's complementing.