My Tax Lecture for the Day Since I Am an Expert

"Inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals of the generation which established our government." - Franklin Darius Rucker Roosevelt

Just last week I asked this beautifully thought-out question:

Why do Republicans fight so vigorously against the "death" tax? Being such noble believers of the bootstraps strategy, why would they insist on giving their children a handout?

Today we see where the astonishing amount of inherited wealth comes from:

Roughly 40 percent of all household wealth stems from inheritances. This means that 40 percent of why some Americans are extraordinarily well off has nothing to do with smarts, hard work, frugality, lucky gambles or entrepreneurial ingenuity. It is simply because they were born to rich parents.

The article goes on to remark how little in taxes these people end up having to pay, which is a stain on our country when you read this:

If an inheritance tax exempted the first $1 million received over one’s lifetime and applied the highest income and payroll tax rates to amounts above that threshold, it would raise $790 billion over the next decade. Under this type of plan, only 0.08 percent of households would owe the tax each year. The revenue could be used to invest in children who aren’t lucky enough to inherit millions, whether through universal pre-K, paid parental leave or a fully refundable child tax credit.

As I wrote almost a decade ago, nobody's willing to admit they were born into luck and be okay with giving juuuuust a little back to help others not so lucky. And of course their greatest ally is the US government. It's a shame.