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the "Birth Lottery".... Anyway, William Gates Sr. has written a book on the subject, "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes", and here's an example he likes to use as to why estate taxes are reasonable:
Gates warms with a parable of his own invention: Imagine, he says, that God is in his office looking over his portfolio. God's stocks are down--he's too heavy in the dot-coms--and to reverse his fortunes, he summons the next two spirits to be born on earth. He proposes an auction. The winner will be born in the United States, the loser in Ethiopia. He asks the two spirits to bid by writing down what percentage of their net worth they are prepared to cede to God upon their death. Hearing the terms, God's adviser (his accountant?) pulls him aside and says it will never work. Both spirits will certainly write 100%.
"What is it worth to be an American?" William H. Gates Sr. asks. The estate tax, he says, is a small price to pay.
The jist of his beliefs are that the only reason you were able to make your massive fortune is that we live in a country that enables you to do so, therefore you ought to give something back to ensure that the country remains able to support others in their quests for amassing giant amounts of wealth.http://www.disconnect.net/archives/2004_07_18_archives.html |
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