WSJ OpEd: How the death tax hurts the poor

Spoken like a true Armchair Economist:

"The death tax sends a powerful message to rich people: "You can't leave everything to your heirs, so spend now, before it's too late. Burn more fuel. Demand more timber for your mansions, more steel for your private planes, and more fiberglass for your yachts.''

Then all those resources—the fuel and timber, the steel and fiberglass—become unavailable to bu...ild factories, so the rest of us get worse jobs at lower wages. Those resources are unavailable to build farm equipment, so we all pay higher food prices. They're unavailable to build roads and schools and hospitals."

Just put punitive taxes on private planes, yachts, residential space above 1,000 sq. ft. per family member, and subsidize employment (removing payroll taxes). And even give the children of the rich a job on the farms or building roads, schools and hospitals instead of going to Ivy League schools, then into investment banking, and making a bonfire of poor people's savings.

The Wall Street Journal - the daily diary of the American nightmare.

See More

Steven E. Landsburg: How the Death Tax Hurts the Poor

online.wsj.com

In The Wall Street Journal, economist Steven E. Landsburg says the death tax encourages the rich to pick extra fruit, leaving the trees a little barer for the rest of us.