Maybe We Wouldn't Need The Estate Tax If The Gov't Wasn't So Big

Arthur Laffer captures the absurdity and inequity that results from the perpetual return of the estate tax: Spend It in Vegas or Die Paying Taxes

Today in America you can take your after-tax income and go to Las Vegas and carouse,
gamble, drink and smoke, and as far as our government is concerned that's just
fine. But if you take that same after-tax income and leave it to your children
and grandchildren, the government will tax that after-tax income one additional
time at rates up to 55%.

These sorts of perverse results are, perhaps, inevitable. Still, a rational person would have to wonder why they should bother saving and building up their resources if the gov't will take such a large cut when they go on to their reward.