Milton Friedman - Redistribution of Wealth

Milton Friedman makes a good argument against the distribution of wealth that addresses your concern directly. Definitely worth a watch. ▶ this video

in “Thinking about wealth taxes” · View on HN

The idea of inheritance taxes are that once you are dead, you don't care about paying taxes. However, leaving wealth for your children is a huge economic incentive. As Friedman puts it: "People go to an irrational length to provide their kids a better life than they will ever get". If you could effectively put 100% tax on inheritance(which you can't in practice), it means your utility of leaving wealth around becomes 0. Now you want to spend that wealth as much as possible, and it turns into consumption. You would sell and spend everything you have for lavish expenses, which means a reduction in capital investment, which means slower economic growth. ▶ this video

in “To Understand Rising Inequality, Consider Janitors” · View on HN

Milton Friedman on a 100% inheritance tax: ▶ this video The argument is basically that it would encourage very wasteful behavior. If you think about it, people often work to make the lives of their children better off to a large extent. My grandfather who lives in a poor country living on a pension still sends me $100 he saved up periodically despite the fact that I'm wealthier than him by many factors. Without the ability to pass on wealth to future generations, empires would not be built in some cases, end of life would include many wasteful lavish purchases and the black market for wealth transfer services would balloon

in “Ask HN: What if there is no inheritance?” · View on HN

I am not going to engage in this discussion anymore as you have convinced me that you are arguing in bad faith. p.s.: for readers - see what Milton Friedman had to say on the very topic, to a person that seems very much on the same level as some of the contributors to this thread: ▶ this video

in “To Cut Down Poverty, Cut Down the Cost of Living” · View on HN

Inequality of outcome is a small price to pay for liberty. Milton Friedman has some interesting thoughts on the subject: Friedman and Sowell on Equality [link] Milton Friedman - Redistribution of Wealth ▶ this video

in “American society is more unequal than those in most other OECD countries” · View on HN