>>>So do you advocate inheritance taxes?
>>
>>Absolutely. After a reasonable deductible I'd tax at 90% or more. I have no problem with passing on a few millions. I'm after the billions.
>>
>>>> almost wiped out aristocratic ownership of/ability to maintain stately homes in the UK at one point, fwiw.
>>If the people think that those places are worth preserving, they can provide government funds to help maintain them.
>>But those aristocrats shouldn't get all that money tax free, period.
>>
>>>> Might be better to lightly tax all transactions
>>Maybe so. But it's not either or.
>>Massive inherited wealth is a social problem as much as an economic one and taxing is the logical way to cure it.
>
>Why tax? Why should the government get it?
>
>Gates, Buffett etc. are giving it away and/or setting up foundations. Do you think $20B would serve society better deployed in a foundation directed by Bill Gates, or in general tax revenues directed by Bill Christie?
>
>How about this idea: someone with $11B dies. Their estate gets to keep $1B, and the other $10B funds a lotto for all registered voters. A lucky 10,000 of them win $1M each (Canadian-style, non-taxable). Of course, this assumes the billionaire can't be trusted to pick 10,000 people herself, before she dies.

Excellent points, Al.
I'm perfectly OK with what Gates and Buffet do. Buffet went further. He set aside nominal estates for each of his children and told them to go out and get jobs for themselves, citing the "moral hazard" of large inherited wealth.
As Gates has said, giving large sums to bureaucratic institutions is a waste.
Mark Zuckerberg tried to help the Newark school system by giving a no-strings grant of $100 million.
That cesspool of corruption drank up the money with zero benefits to a single student. Secretaries of administrators used the money to hire secretaries for themselves.

Gates goes to the spots that need the help and sees what's needed.
I'd like to see more programs like that from other billionaires and I'm all for giving them tax deductions for it.

Unfortunately since Vietnam, the US government has lost its credibility as a good steward of taxpayer's money.
After WWII we had programs like the Marshall Plan, the GI Bill, the Interstate Highway system, the Peace Corp and like programs that made sense.
Now we have whacky wars and bridges to nowhere. Corruption is the order of the day at the federal, state and local levels.
New Jersey spends $2 million/mile maintaining its roads and bridges - 4 times the national average- and the roads and bridges are crumbling. No way I want to feed that beast any more money.

Until the governments earn back some credibility, I'd tax the billionaires and use that money to give tax credits to the lowest income taxpayers.