Moral Objections to Inheritance Tax

Abstract

Taxation of wealth transfers across generations (‘inheritance tax’) is strongly supported by social justice considerations but is also politically and morally contentious. As well as citing concerns about the possible impact on motives to work and save, critics present several moral objections to inheritance tax: it allegedly entails ‘double taxation’; it taxes citizens differently according to how they use their wealth, violating equity; it penalizes the ‘virtuous’ use of personal wealth; and it targets the wrong problem, which is not unequal holdings of wealth as such but unequal consumption. This paper addresses each of these four criticisms, indicates their flaws and limitations, and shows that they do not rebut the case for inheritance tax on grounds of social justice.