In a stunning reversal of the long-time position of conservative Republicans, the Wall Street Journal has run an article by Arthur C. Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute, that endorses a 100% tax on inheritances. Well, the article didn't explicitly endorse a 100% tax on inheritances, but that's the logical conclusion from the arguments it makes. The article, entitled America's Dangerous Powerball Economy, argues that "unearned income—as from the lottery or entitlements—doesn't buy happiness."
It argues that "while earned success facilitates the pursuit of happiness, unearned transfers generally impede it." It goes on to mainly argue against entitlement programs, but if income that you haven't earned yourself actually impedes happiness, the logical conclusion is that inheritances impede the happiness of the people receiving them. So while we're cutting back on benefits for the poor in order to enable them to be happier from the knowledge that they've earned whatever they've got, let's help the children and grandchildren the same way, by levying a 100% tax on inheritances. After all, being born into a wealthy family has no more to do with one's own efforts than winning a big lottery jackpot. In fact, to the extent that the winner of a lottery jackpot has typically at least earned the money that they used to buy the lottery ticket, winning the lottery of being born to the right parents arguably has even less to do with one's own efforts than winning a Powerball jackpot.