The federal estate, gift and generation skipping transfer tax turned 100 recently. This tax is often called the “death tax” by pundits. In this column Ryan Ellis argues for why he thinks the “death tax” should be done away with. He points out that the tax does not actually collect that much money and might be a dead weight on the economy. It can also cause wealthy estates to waste resources avoiding it. According to this column there are better and more effective ways for the federal government to tax the rich. This column also points out the surveys which show that the death tax is unpopular with many Americans. The debate over the inheritance tax is an ongoing one and will likely be an important issue in the 2016 elections.
See Ryan Ellis, Top Five Reasons The Death Tax’s 100th Birthday Should Be Its Last, Forbes, May 3, 2016.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
