In consideration, that the United States desires to represent itself as a meritocracy, and egalitarian in principle, then the least that the United States should do, is to live up to that creed, or thereby in full disclosure to forfeit that claim, once and for all. There was a time from basically the inception of the “New Deal” to up to around 1980, when the United States was inexorably becoming a more equal society, in which the wealth of the superrich, though great, was not though insanely outrageous, and of which, the middle class back then was vibrant, strong, as well as something that was reasonably attainable for a great swath of Americans. That, though, was back then, and certainly this is not the case today, in which the ultrarich have so much wealth and power, that it should be a source of embarrassment for any country so claiming that they are actually egalitarian and fair.
There are all sorts of taxes that could be imposed, and should be imposed in order to help level out the wealth field, and of which, one of the most reasonable taxes to be imposed upon anyone of substance that is an American citizen, is the estate tax. The reason that this tax is an especially good avenue to implement for that government, of, for, and by the people, is that an estate tax only comes into play, upon the death of a given person and thereby affects their estate, only then; so that, during the time when they were alive, they were thereby fully able to enjoy the fruits of having lots of money; but after their death, this so became the opportunity for the government to reset what so needed to be reset, so that the people that are of the living, are thereby able to have fairly redistributed into their hands, a revigorated hope and opportunity.
Yet, what we so find, is that the estate tax, from the years 1942-1976, had an exemption of just $60,000, while also being subject to a maximum estate tax rate of 77%. Whereas, in 2022, the exemption for such a tax so being imposed has been raised to the staggering sum of $12.07 million, and of which the highest maximum tax rate has been reduced to 40%. Not too surprisingly, the amount of monies that could be collected, if the tax exemption rate of 1942-1976 was still in effect, but inflation adjusted, so as to become the amount of around $300,000, in conjunction with the maximum estate tax rate still being set at 77%, would demonstrate that the amount of monies so being collected from that estate tax would be substantially and meaningfully more.
The question that ought to be asked is whether this nation believes that the ultrawealthy should be permitted to pass on that wealth, with a minimal amount of taxation, from one generation to the next; thereby making America to represent what has previously been the European hallmark, of dynastic wealth and power. If so, nothing further needs to be done, for that is the way that it currently is; which signifies that in absence of a more robust inheritance tax, that those that have fallen behind, will fall ever further behind, and realistically that they have no hope or expectation that their lot will change or improve, anytime soon, in this the land of supposed opportunity.