What type of tax are estate taxes?

Question

Are estate taxes, progressive, regressive or flat. Its for Homework.

Yes I am a strong liberal and I think that telling me that just because I envy that thats a unfair reason, and thats why taxes should be abolished. Lawyers dont really work anyway so dont worry about saving them time. Only the super rich concern themselves with such taxes. Your talking about supply side economics, if I asked you to give me ten dollars and I said "trust me the economy will be better...just trust me" I dont think you will give me those ten dollars. SImply put getting rid of an estate tax would more burden on the poor. And I think the rich can bear to loose a few.

Answer 1

They are STUPID taxes.

For your homework, the teacher is probably looking for the answer "progressive" because theoretically they bear more heavily on the wealthier part of the population.

However, in fact, they raise very little revenue, and the cost of enforcing them is extremely high, to the point that they really do not raise much net income for the government.

The truly rich can hire estate planners, and avoid them.

Plus, the gyrations that people do (and structures that they create) to avoid them can be effective in avoiding the estate tax, but they add nothing productive to the economy of the U.S., and actually are a wasteful use of the brain power and potential productivity of bright lawyers.

Since they do not generate meaningful net income to the U.S., they cause a waste of U.S. resources, they can be and are avoided by most of the truly rich, and result in causing conduct that is otherwise non-productive, they might be called "envy tax". It takes away from those who have private property. So those who envy others with money and property can see things that they envy taxed.

The estate tax confiscates possessions and money, which have usually been lawfully earned, and redistributes them, despite and contrary to the wishes of those who have earned the possessions and money.

The country would actually be better off if they were abolished. There have been several bills in Congress which would abolish this inefficient and wasteful tax. Thus far, demogogues who either do not understand the facts, or who do understand, but who nevertheless want to pander to the envious, apparently thinking that it may garner them votes have refused to pass these bills.

Answer 2

First, if it has taken 12 years, something is very wrong and you should hire a lawyer to assist you in obtaining your share. The federal government does not tax the recipient on an inheritance. There is a federal estate tax that is taken out of the estate (as a whole) before it goes to any of the heirs, but tax only applies to very large estates, not one of only a few thousand dollars. Some states have an inheritance tax. Most do not. I do not know if Georgia does.

Answer 3

Ignore the prat above. They're correct in that they are progressive, but that's about it.

Doing away with the Federal estate tax in the US will ONLY benefit the wealthy -- the average American will never pay a dime anyway -- but will cost the Federal budget humdreds of BILLIONS annually to replace.

Only the ultra-wealthy have anything to concern themselves with it -- and they have enough money to not need all of it, especially once they're dead.