The left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice want more Americans to pay estate taxes. Why? Because the government allowed them to earn their money, so they ought to give more back to the government. “Looking at America’s millionaires today, one doubts that very many of them would ever have acquired their wealth if the government had never provided these goods and services. It’s entirely logical that the families who have accumulated large fortunes be asked to contribute more to the society that made these fortunes possible.”

The argument fails on so many grounds, it’s impossible to get into it here. But just two points for now:

Is someone a millionaire because he saved all his life and, thanks to an inflated money supply, now has over a million dollars? Or does he need to earn $1 million annually in income? Or is there some other test?

Society provides a framework for a man to make money, but does government? And since when are the terms “society” and “government” synonymous? Many cogent thinkers, such as Robert Nisbet, have pointed out that government is often anathema to society: the more government does, the less the little platoons on society have to do, and then those little platoons start to fall apart.

You can read the group’s the nauseating palaver here.

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