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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (14268)	6/6/2002 11:34:54 AM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21057

That assumes that the government has an inherent right to tax any gain in value when it chooses to, and it just chooses to at death. But why at death? Why not tax the increase in value of real estate, stocks, etc. annually? There's an underlying theme of the tax code, that profit [or losses] affect your income at the time the [buy/sell] transaction is completed. It's even the theme of labor wages. You work; I pay you; transaction completed. You put interest in the bank; the bank pays interest; transaction completed. If the transaction isn't completed within the lifetime of the person; there's no possibility for the individual [being dead] to complete the transaction. Death seems an intuitive time to settle up. Tax deferred 'income' is a tremendous working benefit. You earn income on deferred taxes. That's a great deal. I'm sure that everyone would love to defer taxes on all their income [of any kind] indefinitely, but that might send tax revenues to zero. So we screw the little guy by taxing them as they earn income and allow the wealthy to defer their tax liability. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have accumulated a lot of wealth. A standing ovation is deserved. They've also done it by deferring as much of that wealth as long as possible. The tax code allows it; good for them. If you don't have an estate tax, when is this deferred tax liability supposed to come due? jttmab