I have to say, Larry, pointing out that the very wealthy have the resources to circumvent laws they don't like isn't exactly a strong argument against the inheritance tax. As the book points out, that's exactly the sort of problem that the inheritance tax was designed to address.

The way that the wealthy evade the tax is typically to establish a charitable foundation to do good work as defined by the benefactor. Isn't that better than having the government decide what constitutes "good works"?

Seems to me like the inheritance tax has double benefits, on the one hand reigning in the abuse of power acquired through wealth, on the other encouraging the use of wealth in ways that benefit society (and I can't stress too much, in the judgment of the philanthropist).

Mr. Gates summed it up better than I can:

At the heart of the “American experiment” is our vision of equality of opportunity and the rejection of hereditary wealth and power. As inadequate as our efforts to build equality of opportunity have been, the establishment of greater concentrations of wealth and power will only undermine them.



America’s democratic tradition is skeptical of concentrated wealth and power. What each of us does in our lives, our contribution to work and society, is thought to be more important than the family into which we are born.



--Robert