The problem with taxing the rich or other plans so that it’s better “they” pay than the rest of us is that it will eventually be us who will have to pay the taxes.
AMT was originally devised as a way to catch those “filthy rich” but it now regularly hits middle class people.
Remember, the rich are the rich because they know how to handle their money. If there is an estate tax here, they will just go somewhere else or they will devise some way to legally divest the money to their heirs without triggering the estate tax. How many billions will Gates and Buffet not pay in estate taxes? They are deliberately putting most of their fortune in charities or other things. As a result, they will not pay as much estate tax as you think. Many others will do this.
And maybe you think it’s a loser for families to help their children. But the overwhelming number of us live our lives, scrape, and deny ourselves many things so that we can build a better future for our children and our grandchildren. If you tax that ability, rest assured that our children will not be better off. You will basically force people to spend it all before dying.
So if you think that having more taxes on others will spare you from those taxes, think again. History has proven you wrong.
