>>>>>>The fact that those who are making enormous fortunes are doing so in part because we, the taxpayers, have given them the opportunity by building infrastructure and provided educated workers and so forth.
>>>>>
>>>>>By that logic, the folks in the economic tier under yourself have the right to demand you surrender your family's wealth.
>>>>>
>>>>>Hmm.. that rung includes me.
>>>>>Fork it over!
>>>>
>>>>I pay my taxes, and while I'll occasionally grumble while writing the check, you won't see me saying that I think taxes on my bracket should be lower. In fact, you can probably find me saying they should be higher. I acknowledge freely that American taxpayers have contributed greatly to my success.
>>>>
>>>
>>>I am glad you pay your income taxes, I don't like to see my friends in jail :)
>>>
>>>The subject was estate taxes - I don't think you have paid those yet!
>>
>>I haven't paid for myself obviously. OTOH, when we my parents died a few years ago, yep, we paid estate tax. (By luck of the draw, my father, the second to go, happened to die in the year in which Republicans had decided there'd be no federal estate tax, but we paid the PA estate tax.)
>>
>>>
>>>You have certainly made or plan to make a family trust to minimize estate taxes and pass your estate to your heirs or worthy charities.
>>>Correct?
>>
>>My husband and I do not have a family trust, nor have we discussed establishing one.
>
>So, you are advocating for very high federal estate taxes that would take most of the wealth out of a family?

I'm advocating for reasonable federal estate taxes with a high enough threshold that most families wouldn't be affected. I'd also like to see the threshold indexed for inflation.

http://wills.about.com/od/understandingestatetaxes/a/historicalestatetaxchart.htm and wills.about.com/od/understandingestatetaxes/a/estatetaxchart.htm show that since it was enacted, both the threshold and the tax rate have varied. I haven't the time to see how the thresholds compare when corrected for inflation. The top rate shown of 77% seems high to me. I haven't really thought about what the right number is, but I think it probably should be comparable to the top income tax bracket.

I also wouldn't object to something like the way PA's works, where the decedent's children pay a lower rate than other beneficiaries.

Tamar