Inheritance taxes should be abolished.

Thanks for taking the debate, PoeJoe. My opponent's first point was the premise for the debate is flawed because the West African executor of wills I used as an example was likely to be a fraudster. This is a slur on the Nigerian legal profession! But never mind that, the inheritance could just as easily come from some prosperous relative that lives in the same town. He then went on to make the following arguments: "1) The death tax would mean double taxation at two different time periods. Property would be taxed once on purchase and then again on death. This is referred to as double dipping which is not only logically wrong, but legally wrong as well. " No, it's not double dipping, it's quadruple dipping! You pay the purchase tax (stamp duty), the estate tax (death duty) but also income tax on the money earned to buy the property plus sales tax (VAT) on the labour and materials used to maintain or improve the property. However, there is nothing illogical or illegal in this – the government raises taxes in many different ways, some of the more imaginative methods of raising public funds are referred to as "stealth taxes". "2) …why give the money to a government known for over spending… when it could be used for further investment in America's biggest companies? " Because corporations are run for the benefit of their shareholders and any extra income would be paid to them in the form of dividends. It could be that these shareholders may decide to donate this extra income to their local school or hospital but this cannot be guaranteed – if it was me I'd buy a brand new convertible Lamborghini, drive it down to Monaco and spend a week sitting by the pool in the Grand Hotel Monte Carlo or gambling away my new found wealth in the Casino Royale! "2a) In following with the above argument, repealing the death tax would remove the disincentive for company owners not to expand their business later in life…" Elderly company owners have every incentive to expand their companies – they want their businesses to continue to grow after their death so that their beneficiaries will continue to benefit. To liquidise the assets to try and avoid death tax would be a false economy as if the capital raised was subsequently bequeathed legally it would be subject to tax and if done illegally and the taxman discovered this, the entire amount would be seized. "3) The death tax undermines the intent of a person's assets upon death. What about little Billy who had 40%+ of his inheritance stolen by the US government? Huh? ! Look at Billy's sad face! " Poor Billy. He'll just have to go out and earn his own money like most people have to. Never mind though, at least he will have the consoling thought that the tax will be spent funding schools and hospitals helping boys and girls that don't have filthy-rich relatives. "4) The amount of the tax is ridiculous and is only going to be raised. Estates are taxed from anywhere from 37% to 55%! [2] How would some failing privately-owned companies possibly survive after a hit like that? The death tax encourages the downfall of many American companies. " Taxes have to be raised somehow. If not through inheritance tax, which is only paid by the wealthy, the lost revenue will have to be raised by taxing the middle and working classes more instead. With regard to the second point, the company is not wound up on the death of its owner but his shares are transferred to his beneficiaries and the beneficiary pays the tax, not the company. "5) Morally, it is simply wrong to tax a person's death. A family is already grieving, so who are we to take possible millions of dollars from that family? " The family may be grieving but the money paid to them from the deceased's estate, albeit minus death duties, will no doubt be of some comfort to them. The rich will almost always find ways to evade tax. As multi-billionaire Nicholas Ferguson, chairman of SVG Capital said: "highly paid executives (working for his firm) pay less tax than a cleaning lady". . http://www.guardian.co.uk... Inheritence taxes are one of the few means whereby the wealthy are obliged to make some financial contribution to the cost of running the country. If the rich did not have to pay inheritences tax, the ordinary citizen would have to pay higher taxes to make up for the lost revenue.