Half of England Is Owned by Less Than 1% of Its Population, Researcher Says

Re:Half of England Is Owned by Less Than 1% of Its Populatio... by hedora on Saturday April 20, 2019 @11:10PM (#19710326)

This is exactly why the US [used to] have a meaningful inheritance tax.

Without such a tax, compound earnings on investments implies that over time, a very small fraction of the population will control the vast majority of all economic resources.

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Re:Half of England Is Owned by Less Than 1% of Its Populatio... by zaroth on Sunday April 21, 2019 @08:12AM (#19711722)

At the Federal level there is a progressive estate tax up to 40%.

I don’t believe the rates have changed much, but the base amount which is excluded has increase to ~$5.5million per person, $11m per married couple.

Why do you say “used to”? This is not nearly so much of an exclusion amount as to approach an effect where “a very small fraction of the population will control the vast majority of all economic resources.”

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