Death Tax and Democracy

Hannah Sternberg / November 30, 2010

The fate of small, family-owned businesses hangs in the balance as Congress decides whether or not to finally put the crippling 55% death tax in a coffin. The toll the death tax takes on family-owned businesses has been clearly documented as has its infeasibility as a federal budgetary tool. But just as important as these concerns is the erosion of individual liberty that this tax presents.

Alexis de Tocqueville recognized the role of inheritance laws in a free society in his Democracy in America:

Through [inheritance laws] man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the future lot of his fellow-creatures. When the legislator has regulated the law of inheritance, he may rest from his labor. The machine once put in motion will go on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided, towards a given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together, and vests property and power in a few hands: its tendency is clearly aristocratic. (more…)