[wpietri]

A rich person already pays taxes at a rate that is currently heavily influenced by rich people, so I'm not seeing that as much of a justification.

But yes, when a rich person gives their money to another person, that other person now has to pay tax. An estate, gift, or income tax.

Many rich people pay their employees, some don't; wage theft is very popular, as are other forms of labor exploitation. But an educated, healthy, available labor force is a very expensive asset to create. We all invest in creating that through things like paying for schools, health care, and raising children. One of the ways we pay for creating that asset is taxes. Rich people, as the ones most benefiting from society, and also as the ones with the most spare money, should pay their fair share for that.

[cdjk]

The recipient of a gift does not pay gift taxes. The payer does if they have not used up their lifetime exemption or unless it is belo the annual limit.

[tasty_freeze]

I believe in the US the current annual limit before a gift is taxed is $15,000.

EDIT: the point of raising it is in the context of this discussion, we are talking about the very wealthy. A $15,000 gift to their children isn't very much of a transfer as a percentage. To hand off large amounts of wealth to the next generation, for sure the annual gift exclusion isn't nearly enough to avoid inheritance taxes.

[coryrc]

No, that's the point at which it must be reported. The exemption is a few million in a lifetime.

[wpietri]

Ah, good point. Thanks for the correction.