>>>>>>>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.
>
>Reasonable?
>Everybody's definition of reasonable is different.
>Human nature is ironclad on this point - "reasonable" is always relative to our own position.
>
>Before the Berlin Wall fell, an elderly acquaintance had elderly cousins living in Czechoslovakia.
>These people lived in a miserable little cottage.
>The local government took away their second milk cow because it was not "reasonable" for old people to have any income from selling the milk.
>
>Another acquaintance in Los Angeles had roommates in a rented apartment and drove a very tired looking old car.
>He was always advocating for "taxing the rich" for the benefit of the "community."
>Then he got a contract to supply programming talent to a big company.
>Then he married a high earning woman.
>Then he bought a luxury house and one of those ridiculous Porsche SUV things.
>Then he joined the tea party to protest against high taxes.
>His heartfelt conclusion was that he was not rich, and the taxes were not reasonable.
>
>My point? "Reasonable" is always defined relative to your own position.
>
>When I was in college, working full time, my company was pushing to get 100% participation in United Way.
>The company president, who made a lot of money, decided it would be a good thing that I donate to his charity.
>United Way has their own president who makes a lot of money managing a bureaucracy that produces no economic value.
>
>My company president wanted to feel good about being charitable with MY money.
>They sent out questionnaires asking about our volunteer work and our donations to various causes.
>Again, the company president wanted to feel good about any charities I spent time and money on.
>On the third request that I fill out the questionnaire, I told them it was none of their business.
>I was correct, but certainly not a good move politically.
>
>I have the same feeling when people advocate for taxing away somebody else's money, but not their own.
>
>No matter what you feel in your heart, as a practical matter, the estate tax you seem to agree with falls mostly on others - not yourself, not your peers.
>
>It is a free country.
>If you don't feel you are taxed enough, the US Treasury will accept donations every year with your 1040 - but you have not done that.
>If you feel that estates should be taxed the same as income, the US Treasury will accept bequests - but you have not done that.
>
>Can you explain how this is any different?
>You want to be generous with somebody else's money.

You keep saying that last sentence, despite the fact that I indicated that my family had paid estate taxes on the death of my parents and that I expect my estate to be taxed and that I've acknowledged repeatedly that some of the proposals I favor are likely to cost me more money.

As for how to define "reasonable," we vote. If we don't like the way the current government defines it, we have the right and the ability to turn that government out and vote in a new one. In your Czech example, those people didn't have that right. Huge difference.

Tamar