Our tax system in Canada is premised on the basis that we tax income and capital appreciation, not capital.  Estate taxes fly in the face of that. The one exception is the principal residence on which capital appreciation is tax free, which for wealthy Canadians is generally not their main asset; clearly not the case for average Canadians. As wealthy Canadians in Ontario (and frankly the rest of Canada) already pay a significant tax burden on their income (close to 54%), think twice before putting in place a system that would encourage them to take their wealth (income and capital) and move elsewhere. They certainly have the ability to do so.   Taxation and economic theory is very complex.  I personally am extremely proud of the differences between our system and say the US system which clearly favours very high net worth people. While the US has estate taxes, those uber wealthy people pay really expensive tax accountants to make sure they don't pay any of it.