It's better to choose rich relatives than lottery numbers nowadays.
The House recently passed a bill that would do away with the estate tax. I don't particularly have anything against the rich, but inherited assets are income, and an efficient tax system should tax income broadly at low rates. An estate or inheritance tax is part of that. Rising inequality, and growing immobility over generations, is also something an estate tax can address.
The politics of getting rid of the estate tax are weird, since the Republicans have managed to convince many people that they may stand to inherit millions in the future, or could pass on millions to their heirs. Most people don't inherit or dispose of any such amount.
Most people have a better chance of winning a small amount in the lottery than they do of inheriting substantial estates. Yet if you win something in the lottery you'll be taxed on that. The Republicans still think that is income. I would hope the Democratic party might be able to exploit this kind of gap between Republican rhetoric and the reality of Republican subservience to wealthy donors, but I haven't seen the Democrats do so yet.
By the by, one of the reasons we don't see any major athletic events held in the United States (like the Golden League) is that the American government will tax the million dollar winnings. European governmnts won't.
Of course, Europeans also watch athletics in a way Americans don't ...
Posted by robe0419 at April 20, 2005 4:58 PM