Should the estate tax be abolished?

No

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by Lam Luu

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Among all taxes, no taxes is more American, more just, and more fair the estate tax. Its other names are inheritance tax and death tax. Recently, politicians and media pundits from the right love using the word death tax, since it does not invoke the most important function of this tax: level the playground and let the American Dream emerge.

Do you remember what the United States of America stands for? From the very beginning, it has always been the land of opportunity, where everyone who dares will have an equal chance of success. As long as you works hard enough, no matter where you come from, whom your parents are, you still can succeed. This dream motivates generations of immigrants to come here, and, together, work to create this great nation.

Estate tax is to preserve that dream. Just pause a minute between your maze of beliefs in economics and justice and consider this: one person starts out his life with a high school diploma with virtually no money and another college graduate with millions of dollars, who would have more chance of success? Of course, the latter. Even if that person does not go to work a day, that person still can enjoy a better-than-average life by invest the multi-million fortune. Where is justice in that? Where is equality in that?

Obviously, we cannot hope to create a perfectly equal starting point for everyone. Let us go back to the example above. The latter person, no matter how hard the government tax that person, the person still have an edge in skill and recognition (and in relationships). However, we, as a society, can at least guarantee that everyone has to work to succeed. Skills and recognitions alone cannot create success and comfortable life. However, a huge wealth can. If we do away with that wealth, and force everyone to work before enjoying life, what sin have we committed? Embracing justice? Or upholding equality?

That is the whole point of estate tax: it aims to take away unfair advantage of a small fraction of the population. It reduces those high and wealthy to just normal people who have to swipe sweat on their browns to earn their future fortune. It is anything but fairness and justice.

I also believe that fairness and justice will, ultimately, result in great economic gains. Remember, people are not stupid. They may not lose track somewhere in the maze of arguments against estate tax. However, they do know whether or not their situations are fair. When people know that their start points, at least in term of wealth, are roughly the same with Rockefeller children, they will aim high to become another Rockefeller. They will work hard, they will innovate, they will push the whole society up. On the other hand, if they feel that they will never succeed anyway, the people will just stop trying.

Last but not least, estate tax can also play an important role in ensuring the cleanness of the politics. If someone wants to impose something on the laws, that person must possess either enough supports, which is perfectly legitimate, or enough money to buy those supports, which is dirty. If everyone starts at roughly the same point, everyone must work from, at least, middle class to upper class in other to have enough money to spend on dirty politics. However, if wealth can be passed freely without taxes, it will allow a small number of people to join upper class without the hard work and experience with other echelons of the society. This is dangerous for two things: first, those people, who can use dirty politics, are detached from the rest of the society, so the policies they push will surely benefit only themselves; second, they will have a lot of time, since they have become wealthy since young age, to study politics and its dark art, so they will utilize dirty politics efficiently and skillfully. Hence, the politics and government will be corrupted.

To prevent the corruption of the politics and the government, to protect the American Dream, to promote the value of hard working, estate tax is a must. And under no circumstances should we ever consider to abolish it. We, as the people, as the workers, should work hard to protect that tax, to protect the fairness that shape this nation, to protect the fragile politic system, and to ensure that our offspring and ourselves will continue to enjoy the greatness and fairness of this nation.

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