Re:It’s better to be born rich than gifted
by jesssse on Saturday October 13, 2018 @09:00PM
(#18210802)
I am confused about taxes. When a person gives their family member a gift, why do you feel entitled to a portion of this private exchange of wealth?
Re:It’s better to be born rich than gifted
by shaklee3 on Saturday October 13, 2018 @09:02PM
(#18210811)
I think the point is that if you can hand down a lot of wealth to your kids, they are already on a different playing field than other kids. it's fine to transfer wealth, but the way things are today means that that wealth can be used to buy a better education.
Re:It’s better to be born rich than gifted
by jwatte on Saturday October 13, 2018 @09:11PM
(#18210842)
The only reason you can accumulate and have wealth, is that the society exists.
Re:It’s better to be born rich than gifted
by TheCoelacanth on Saturday October 13, 2018 @10:45PM
(#18211100)
Same question but for wages or purchases. Are you arguing against estate taxes or all taxes in general?
Like many things in social contract, the answer is - okay to a reasonable degree, but extremes should be discouraged / forbidden.
Some concrete examples: annual limits on gift taxes, inheritance tax beyond a certain estate size etc. Policies which will level the playing field between rich and poor kids:
- very high rate of inheritance tax beyond $1M estate (some reasonable adjustment for inflation)
- no legacy based admissions for any university benefitting from govt money
- funding schools strictly at state level; not allowing local district to fund extra school activities in any way (because that is prone to gaming)
- CA specific: disallowing inheriting tax basis for inherited homes (one of the most stupid aspects of Prop 13 and CA housing policies)