Inheritance taxes should be abolished.

----Flawed Premise Redux---- In the comments section of this debate, my opponent has indicated that his premise was comically inspired. Phew!-- Imagine my relief to know that one of my fellow debaters wasn't actually being scammed! I will be able to sleep well now. Hurray! Where are the balloons? ----In Defense of My Arguments---- 1) I concede my first argument. Thank you for opening my eyes. 2) My second argument (that the money is better spent by the company than the corrupt government) still stands. My opponent's claims that inherited money would be spent on gambling are completely unreferenced. My argument, however, is verified by a renowned economics professor who works at Pepperdine University.[4] Seriously brian_eggleston, whom do you think the audience is going to trust? You, or the professor? 2a) Again, my opponent's claims are completely unreferenced. Is the audience going to believe a regular everyday debater, or a renowned think tank? My argument that the death tax hurts America's companies still stands. 3) My argument that the death tax undermines the intent of a person's assets upon death still stands. Sure, some people have an economical advantage over others, but so what? That does not justify stealing 40%+ of a person's assets upon death! It is the right of a dieing person to freely give his money to whom he wants. The government is terrible with spending money! We are already spending 400+ billion dollars that does not exist every year while having a 9.4+ trillion dollar deficit. We must let a dieing person give his money to exactly who he wants for the exact amount he wants. 4) My argument that the death tax is ridiculously high, and that the wealthy already pay too much taxes still stands. My opponent's concerns are addressed in the "Counterarguments and Conclusion" section. 5) My moral argument stating that it is simply wrong to tax a person's death still stands mainly because it was never truly addressed. My opponent wrote that "the money paid to them from the deceased's estate, albeit minus death duties, will no doubt be of some comfort to them." Okay, but that does not undermine the fact that as a society, we taxed a persons death. Please address the real argument. ----A Reminder---- By the common rules of debate, my opponent may not introduce any new arguments in his closing argument. If he does however, it must be ignored. Thank you. ----Counterarguments and Conclusion---- So far in this whole entire debate, my opponent has provided only one argument. That argument is: "Inheritence (sic) 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 (sic) tax, the ordinary citizen would have to pay higher taxes to make up for the lost revenue." What does my opponent use to prove all this? Just one single quote from a man who is neither an economy export nor a CEO! In truth, he is nothing more than an artist and a television director![1] Why does my opponent use such a shady resource? Because he knows he is wrong! In fact, the wealthy already pay too much taxes. Far too much. In America for instance, the top 1% of income earners pay more income tax than the bottom 90%.[2] The Top 5% of taxpayers pay 50% of ALL taxes.[3] And while "The Top 1% of income earners (comprising about 1 million families) earn about 15% of the total income earned by all wage earners in the United States... they pay almost 30% of all individual income taxes".[3] Let's face it: We live in a capitalist society. A society where when the major corporations benefit, we as a society benefit as well. We benefit because the companies will be able to lower prices and increase our wages. We benefit because our lives are enhanced that much more. Abolishing the death tax would help this ideal. We must abolish the death tax. Thank you for your time. VOTE PRO! ----References---- [1] http://www.nicholasfergusonpaintings.com... [2] http://taxprof.typepad.com... [3] http://www.allegromedia.com... [4] http://www.capitalism.net...