Response to a Death Tax Supporter

There is no "fairness" to any of this. There is only covetousness.

by Rod D. Martin
September 23, 2010

Dear _______:

There is a place for regulation, albeit not necessarily with the specific regulations under which we live.  Adam Smith himself said that never do two businessmen so much as meet together in a pub without their conversation turning to the restraint of trade; and so we institute governments in no small part to defend capitalism (which is to say, liberty) from those (frequently big businessmen) who would use their accumulated wealth and power to wrongfully crush the opportunity of others.

Nevertheless, that has nothing to do with the point at hand, at which I simply marvel.

“The problem with excessive ‘legacy’ wealth is too many trust fund babies who contribute nothing because of their inherited wealth... some taxation for the benefit of a society that made the wealth possible is certainly reasonable. Why is it OK to tax the fruits of labor at a rate high than one earns ‘clipping coupons’ while earning nothing... what is wrong with restoring t…