Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-66.87.85.222-20170412181021/@comment-31370220-20170418115907

Eoros wrote: So where does the money go after you die? What's wrong with your children getting it? The government does not give that money to the poor, I'd literally bet money on that. Do you know how many funds and stuff the government has? It'd most likely go to the military to a science fund. The amount going to the poor would be miniscule. This isn't about the poor, Eoros. In any situation, there is no use in having the extremely rich be that rich. They literally have nothing to do with their money. I do not support a system which forbids inheritance, but one which prevents immense inheritances from being wasted on a small number of people. Furthermore, this is not about the government or how it spends its budget (although we all know that very few governments are able to make the best of their budget), that is a very distinct topic. Personally, I support a planned economy, so the government would have plenty of uses for such funds. But there is no sense in wasting it, whatever it is used on and in any economic system. Even if it is spent on military research, at least it reaches working people and doesn't stay in some bank growing due to compound interest, only to be wasted on a holiday to some pacific island or a designer dress...

Continuing the previous example, let us say that the children inherit 15 million and a 60% share in the company. In a social-democratic system (which is not ideal, but shall be assumed for the sake of example) the inheritance tax should be of around 75%, leaving 3.75 million and the share. More than sufficient for a good quality of life, even a wasteful one. Perhaps even a higher tax. So, generally, the tax would be calculated according to steps and would grow as the size of the inheritance grows, never leaving more than 5 million for the inheritors. This way, the fruits of the original entrepreneur's labour are more efficiently distributed to useful institutions of state, while not destroying the livelyhoods of the children. This is a sort of compromise to me, as I believe no-one should be able to become very rich in the first place.