Friday, Dec. 15, 2017 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
View more of the Sun's opinion section
Is the estate tax fair?
Most people who attain great wealth don’t do it on their own. Take the Walton family, owners of Walmart, for example. They employ tens of thousands, but don’t pay many of them a living wage.
Instead, those workers depend on taxpayers, like you and me, to get by. Many of them get food stamps, earned income tax credits, housing assistance, etc. They depend on emergency rooms for medical care.
All of these are subsidized by the rest of us through our taxes. If the Waltons and other rich folks paid a living wage, we taxpayers would save a fortune. Because the rich don’t pay, it is only fair that they give back through the estate tax. It is the only way we taxpayers are reimbursed, at least partially, for all the money we pay to their employees that the rich get away with not paying.
Not only that, but taxpayers fund the education of workers. We pay for defense, for the police, for the justice system. We pay to build the roads, airports, dams, and other infrastructure that businesses depend on.
Why shouldn’t the rich pay back a little through the estate tax? Without these things, the rich would not be rich. They owe us.
