Obama's position on the estate tax

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I can't answer your question. So, I'll derail your thread by adding this:

People seem to more readily accept that the possibility to improve is lessened, than having something they already have lessened. Unfortunately, what makes economic sense is theother way around.

Taxing what people already have(estate, wealth, etc) is better in an economic sense than taxing their ability to improve(income tax).

No, taxing economic activity, what they buy is better. Taxing wealth and estates is worse than taxing incomes (especially death tax) because it interupts inheritence which is a key pillar of social mobility. Contrary to popular belief, most people cannot change classes in a generation, but families can inherit wealth across generations - you get a white collar job as a clerk, your child gets to go to university.

Wealth tax has no practical effect on the Rich, unless they are deeply unfortunate and it destroys the estate, what it really does is prevent the poor from accumulating wealth.