BloombergOne way the rich get richer is through inheritance, and they are barely paying taxes on it. To make the system fairer, Batchelder proposes scrapping the estate tax and replacing it with an “inheritance tax.”The difference is more than semantic. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates her proposal could raise as much as US$1.4 trillion over the next decade. Under the current system, wealthy Americans and their estates are required to pay 40 percent on bequests and gifts to heirs. Batchelder’s proposal would scrap this system, in which estates are taxed, and replace it with a system in which heirs pay income and payroll taxes on the money they receive.

Source: Taipei Times January 28, 2020 15:56 UTC