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September 08, 2005
Death Tax Repeal In Its Death Throes?
David Runciman, Cambridge political theorist, has it in for the estate tax. His criticism of it is more thorough than that of his American brothers-in-arms, but none the more cogent. And as Katrina washes away the possibility of a vote on that notorious removal of wealth from the hands of the children whose parents have earned it, liberalism's central thesis endures in its folly.
The pivotal error? Pro-estate tax ads have asked why we ought to give billions in "lost" revenue to a handful of millionaires, while the needs of a less fortunate public go unmet. One question is at what point needs become wants, but in addition to being particularly gauche at the moment that query is eclipsed by the observation that the repeal of the estate tax will not "give" anyone anything. Of course, it will refrain from taking large sums of money from the people who have earned it.
If you like, ask whether they deserve that money--but not whether its ownership is their right. It's the third-rate heirs of those who earn a fortune whom death-tax boosters attack for making a mockery of wealth and privilege, but the people who create wealth to begin with are those truly assaulted by the estate tax. The idea that one's legal personhood exists at least an instant after one's body gives out is as venerable as it is grounded in the fundaments of private property itself.
Posted by James G. Poulos at September 8, 2005 04:26 PM
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