A restaurant would very unlikely be hit by estate tax. For one, it's the VALUE of the restaurant, not the revenue. What do you think the value of a restaurant typically is (especially a family one like you describe) -- probably less than 500k -- certainly no more than a million [1]. Restaurants are a fine way of distributing income to a family who work there, but the value is based on profit after that.

You could own 5 restaurants of that size and not pay estate tax.

[1] http://sellingrestaurants.com/news/how-much-is-a-restaurant-...

You're assuming the estate tax needs to exist in it's current form- ideally it would allow for me to deign money out to specific aspects of government or approved (need to avoid abuse here) charities of my choice. That would still serve to dissuade the multigenerational family/genetic lottery while leaving the individual with some say in how their (now former) assets are used.

On your last point- a traditional corporation won't fail if one person dies as the issue of ownership is inherently divested from any individual person. Stocks are one of the easiest assets to liquidate on this planet- I'm not seeing an issue there. The restaurant? It would be sold. If I have a family member who I actually think could run it adequately they would be able to purchase it like anybody else and I would encourage them to do so while I was still alive.

Ooooor... just give it to them before you die. Likewise the stocks. Likewise the 'approved' charities - the Charity Of Bob's Kids would be ideal I think.

More Polyanna thinking that anything you can make up in a minute, won't be gamed to death by anybody and everybody. Why? Because almost everybody wants to increase the chances of their children/heirs succeeding. Its built into the species.

Now you're just being deliberately obtuse. The entire reason I explicitly pointed out the potential for abuse was to head off the "Charity of Bob's Kids" comment.

Obviously such a system would need significant safeguards- this is something we're both fully aware of as intelligent human beings. Mentioning them now is just a strawman unless stated as the overall opinion "it's 100% impossible to stop abuse".

On your last point, I find it silly to assert that a belief in humanities ability to overrule animal instincts is somehow "Pollyanna thinking". Everything we've achieved thus far as a species has been based on that belief.

Ok maybe that was too far.

But everything in the tax law is a testament to how this is playing out in reality. Try as you might, 10,000 lawyers will push their pointy noses through loopholes to benefit their clients, which is everybody.

You can't avoid the estate tax by gifts given before you die [1]. They are added into the estate.

[1] http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employ...

>That's Polyanna thinking, that an estate tax will benefit humanity.

Just because something is idealistic doesn't mean it's incorrect.

> You trust the govt to spend your wealth, more than say a relative?

Dear God yes.