I don't see any threads discussing what I think is an important difference between Capitalism and Socialism, namely Inheritance.
I don't see any moral reason why children deserve to Inherit the money that there parents made. Is there an economic reason I'm missing?
There are enough practical reasons, at least. It encourages people to work hard now to know that their children will be better off than them.
>>1
You and I are so different, it's like we are on from different solar systems. Seriously.
Stupid question, stupid thread. So if your parents would be rich (or at least doing well) you wouldn't want to inherit money from them?
>>5
And after I use thier money to buy my own island, I will beat you with a pipe and sodomize your children, because that is what I want to do.
>>5
I may want to, but why do I deserve to, any more than I deserve free money in general?
If the money doesn't go to family, then it goes to the state. Work hard, accumulate money, then give it to the state. Wonderful idea.
You aren't giving money to the state. You aren't giving money to anyone, because you are no more. You have ceased to be.
Also, "the state" doesn't take that money and put it in a big pile somewhere. They use it to make life better for everyone. This is the theory of taxes in most modern societies.
Also, >>1 asked for an economic reason why inhertance should be allowed. You gave the reason "but I wanna!", which isn't exactly economic. Can you give an answer to >>1's question?
>>1
There isn't much of a reason not to keep it as it is. No inheritance can be legislated but it's impossible to implement. How are you going to stop parents from giving things to their children without denying them the ability to raise them up as normal people?
I think Marx's idea of a 100% inheritence tax is a terrible idea for just the whole demotivational aspect, but some inheritence tax is necessary to prevent aristocracy since wealth is power. An inheritence tax is necessary to push us towards meritocracy where more wealth is generally only gotten for harder work and greater contribution.
If we ever do abolish the inheritance tax, we should call the bill "The Paris Hilton Empowerment Act."
Raising children and inheritence don't seem all that related to me. Please expand on this.
You can give your stuff to your kids before you die. Inheritance problem solved.
>>16
Limit how much stuff you can give to your kids before you die. Inheritance problem problem solved.
>>11
So what. His family is still alive. His family could be financiallyl dependant on him. If he doesn't write a will, in your world the government would just take all his money and land. Imagine this: a bunch of govt. officials telling someone that he has to leave his house because your father didn't write his will. The govt. is the owner of the house now. I guess, in your world, the govt. gets the house even if the father did write his will.
>>18
That’s not an argument against the elimination of inheritance; it’s an argument against taxes in general; and an incoherent one at that.
Hint: The government doesn't take your capital and burn it. Those leaving behind more assets than the mean average (therefore well under 50% of the population) would have the fraction of their estate beyond the average distributed among those estates that are below the average, such that each person received an equal inheritance.
How are you going to do that without turning over the social order and make everyone a communist?