“I suspect that if you or your immediate family ever accumulate even near the assets that’d render you vulnerable to the death tax you’d see things a bit differently.”
Neither Warren Buffett and Bill Gates is opposed to the estate tax. Andrew Carnegie was strongly in favor of it. Sam Walton was simply too smart for the government, and maneuvered around it. It seems to be the lower-tier wealthy, with their $5-25 million accumulations, who complain the most. Anyway, it seems that I’m already paying over 1/3 of my income in taxes every year. That bothers me more than the possibility of doing it again once when I die. You have neither my sympathy nor my vote on this issue.
There is no law preventing someone from writing a check to the US Treasury in order to give it more money than you legally owe it. As for the rest of us who would like to pass on to our loved ones the hard-earned fruit of our lifetime's labor, the Estate Tax is an abomination. Again, I say that as someone who earns a living helping people legally avoid it (hey, I know that I've got job security, regardless of my personal preferences).
That's because they have enough money/assets to protect their estates from the tax man by dolling it out to their family through their foundations. Obviously if their families were personally affected by the tax in any way they'd crusade like mad against it.
It seems to be the lower-tier wealthy, with their $5-25 million accumulations, who complain the most.
That's because they're the ones you actually have to pay the tax. Again, if you or your family ever get even close to the $5-$25 million range you'd see things a bit differently.
As far as your take on income taxes goes, you're preaching to the choir.