[chris-orgmenta]

So my parents gift me money in their will, and I am owed it somehow because I share genes?

I don't get it, apart from certain return for if the child did genuinely 'earn it' through caring for parents in old age etc.

We need to end this divine-right thinking, IMO.

I think it's the perfect place to get tax rev (it's the tax that is furthest away from 'units of work' that I can think of. Far better than getting it from an income tax). I.e. it is the tax that penalises people the least for creating value.

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I guess my current position is that

1. It is poor economic policy not to go heavy on inheritance tax (as far as emigration of the upper class remains inelastic), and

2. People claiming their relatives' estates is not compelling to me (but I am open to being compelled)

[plexman]

You should have the right to gift whatever you want to your descendants, and the general public should have no cut from your hard work and the decision not to consume it all.

You paid taxes all your life. Your descendants are going to be paying taxes for the new assets.

OP saying not to worry, its just a problem if you receive more than 1kk, well in 100 years with inflation i bet this will be a problem for everybody.

[chris-orgmenta]

UK inheritance tax is indeed based on flat GBP amounts, and it would indeed have been less overhead to make it ratios/pegged to something.

But these get reviewed and adjusted often, so the assumption that inflation would impact this is a bit premature.

> You should have the right to gift whatever you want to your descendants, and the general public should have no cut from your hard work and the decision not to consume it all. > You paid taxes all your life. Your descendants are going to be paying taxes for the new assets.

Yes that's the problem - This is not at all compelling to me, and vice versa I am not compelling to you. I feel that your side needs to be extra compelling too, so as to prove that it is better to take from another tax than from inheritance tax.

It is very much in my interest for me to be convinced by you. I want to believe :)

[plexman]

I think that gvmt's are wasteful and i just don't like to pay high taxes because i had $0 20 years ago. In this particular situation its even worse because it's double taxation.

My original comment on this is related to punishing the savers that accumulated that capital, i can't fathom that.

If you like to pay takes and are looking forward to pay more, there's nothing i can add to convince you.

> So my parents gift me money in their will, and I am owed it somehow because I share genes?

What is your take on inheritance? I understood that you think that it should not be allowed? You called a divine right! Should the gvmt have your assets? If not who?

[chris-orgmenta]

> What is your take on inheritance? I understood that you think that it should not be allowed? You called a divine right! Should the gvmt have your assets? If not who?

I think that my inheritance should be a heavily progressively taxed, yes. Divine right is part of it, but I of course acknowledge that people often have 'earnt' the inheritance they receive.

> If you like to pay takes and are looking forward to pay more, there's nothing i can add to convince you.

I don't like it :) But I think it's the right thing. Although - Yes I completely agree that governments are wasteful, and I would endorse anyone that engages in tax evasion and gives the diff to 'charity'. I am also a conscientious observer and struggle with defence spending in particular. In my eye that's really a part of conservative-socialist positioning though, rather than where to get the tax revenue from.

> My original comment on this is related to punishing the savers that accumulated that capital, i can't fathom that.

Completely appreciate that issue yes - My argument essentially is incentivising people to spend their money before they die, and asking them to strike the exact right balance against retaining appropriate emergency funds until then. (Partly why I say progressive tax rather than outright confiscation though, FWIW).

> I think that gvmt's are wasteful and i just don't like to pay high taxes because i had $0 20 years ago. In this particular situation its even worse because it's double taxation.

I would rather they took your money from your inheritance, than taking it from your weekly wages. I don't want you to be penalised for working and creating value. I would prefer $0 inheritance tax to $1 inheritance tax... But I would choose inheritance tax over income tax. <-- That's the crux of it really. I'm not pro inheritance tax. I just think it's the best place to take people's money from, the place that least penalises people for good deeds (other than tax revenue through fines. Then I would argue that sales taxes are a better revenue collection method than income tax partly for the same reason. But we still need all of these taxes in place, I would just rebalance to incentivise production amongst other things.).

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I appreciate you humouring me on this with the principle of charity and the spirit of debate here!