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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Monday, April 20, 2015

A MODEST PROPOSAL

Last year, median family income was $53,891.  [This means half of the households were lower, half higher.]   One thousand times $53,891 is $53,891,000.  [I take it this is not controversial, although these days, you never know which parts of math and science Republicans will object  to.]

My proposal:  No young person should inherit more than a millennium of median household income [in 2015 dollars.  Who knows what the dollar will be worth in 3015?]  So, when a billionaire or multi-millionaire dies, he or she can leave $53,891,000 to each child, and all the rest will be taxed by the state.  The proceeds can be used to reduce the FICA tax.

4 comments:

Jerry Fresia said...

It's so sensible and yet so radical! Anyway, as a citizen, I agree.

Kent Schenkel said...

Currently, a person can only leave about 5.4 million at death (total, not per recipient) free of federal estate tax (40% rate). Are you suggesting that that amount is far too low?

Of course, the house has now voted to repeal the estate tax completely.

Robert Paul Wolff said...

I was suggesting that everything above 62 million be taxed at 100%.

It would be interesting to know just how much revenue that would generate each year.

Kent Schenkel said...

Don't know but there were 290 estate tax returns filed by decedents dying in 2011 who had estates of $50 million or more. Those estates added up to about $50 billion. Of course if you allow a person to leave 62 million to as many people as he/she wants, then any estate could (and most probably would) go untaxed under your proposal.