By shelter money, I didn’t mean avoid taxes completely. There are many ways to lower one’s tax burden. The richer one is, the more creative one can get. Estate planning is a full-time profession in of itself.

Taxes on income is different from taxes on wealth. You can grow wealth without being taxed until the gain is realized (see Blackstone). That’s why we need an estate tax, otherwise, wealth accumulated would never get taxed. Wealth doesn’t happen in a vacuum but is created by the society in which we live in. It would be of great benefit to those who can grow wealth, pass it on to heir without paying taxes (contributing to society). Billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett support the estate tax because they believe in giving back to society.

It not hard for people with great wealth to continue to grow that wealth while earning very little income and thus paying little income taxes.

It’s always funny to me that those who don’t have great wealth support abolishing the estate tax. They are seduced by the simple rhetoric of the Republicans. Actually, if those voters are stupid enough to vote against their own interest, then who am I to judge?