Statists Motivated by Envy and Resentment

Who benefits most from the death tax? The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell cites two obvious answers:

1. Politicians presumably benefit since they get more money to spend.
2. There are some statists who are motivated by envy and resentment. These are the folks who make class-warfare arguments about death tax being necessary to prevent “the rich” from accumulating more wealth, even though evidence shows large family fortunes dissipate over time.

Dan concludes:

The bottom line is that the tax should be abolished for reasons of growth.

But it also should be repealed because it’s unfair to newly successful entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners, all of whom generally lack access to the clever tax-planning tools of those with established wealth.

And it should be repealed simply because it would be morally satisfying to reduce the income of those who benefit from – and lobby for – bad government policy.