It's really not the easiest. You have to prevent gifting things at a lower tax rate while alive. That means it comes bundled with income tax or gift tax implications.

Fairest? I mean, land value tax is fair. So are Pigouvian taxes. In fact they're arguable more than fair. Not having these taxes is arguably unfair. Who deserves ownership of natural resources or to inflict negative externalities on others?

Taking things someone earned through labour and not letting them give it to who they want isn't very fair.

> It is great to want to give your kids a head start in the world, it is terrible for them and the people around them to set them up for life.

How is it terrible for my kids to not have to break their back like I did to build the wealth I'm looking to pass on to them after I die? Why should they go through the same struggles that I did? It is up to them to squander it or transform it into even more wealth to pass it down to their children and so on. Ideally the former, but sometimes what parents dream for their children does not always come to pass.

> wealth tax is on inheritance

As a point on terminology: That's not a really a wealth tax on the accumulated assets at-rest own by the (now eternally-resting) owner, but an income tax on the wealth as it moves to the recipients who didn't have it and are getting a massive gift.

It just happens to be a kind of gift/transfer we've decided because of tradition to consider as a special case, where (A) it happens right after a given dies and (B) the giver is frequently but not necessarily related to the recipient.

Just curious what you think the correct solution is? You're rich, you have a kid, you die when the kid is 2yrs old. So they get nothing? 12? 22? 32?. Is there some "correct" number? If you're raising them in some $100m home do they get booted out and put in a tenement?

On the other hand, most people die closer to 75-80 and their kids are 50+. Leaving inheritance to them isn't really spoiling them as they are alread adults with established lives.

The problems with inheritance tax is that they can be avoided through trust structures and insurance schemes. In theory it's a good tax, but in practice many wealthy people figured out how not to pay it.

> It is great to want to give your kids a headstart in the world

I might live till 72, my kids will be my age right now when they hit inheritance instead.

That's not a headstart.

I would disagree, I think income taxes and inheritance taxes are morally wrong. Earning money to support oneself and family instead of relying on public largesse should not be taxed. Passing the fruits of a lifetime of work to ones heirs so they can continue do productive work instead of relying on public largesse should not be taxed.

The federal estate tax is 40%. NYC adds in another 16%.

So you want to tax something that has already been taxed throughout the course of someone's life, just because they want to give it to their kids?

The only tax that is fair to everyone is a sales tax.