[ExI] The Dogs of Immortality

Stathis Papaioannou stathisp at gmail.com
Sun Jul 13 04:14:09 UTC 2008


2008/7/13 Harvey Newstrom <mail at harveynewstrom.com>:

> Is there a fundamental reason why income should be taxed and sales should be
> taxed but inheritance should not be taxed when it is passed between
> individuals?  Do you feel the same about gift taxes?  Should someone receiving
> a large gift pay taxes on it?  If so, how is this different than inheritance?
> If not, why should people be taxed on earned money but not unearned money?
>
> I.E., what is the underlying mechanism used to determine what should be taxed
> and what should not?

Taxes are a fee charged for a common service and differ from most fees
charged by private organisations in that the underlying principle is
not profit but fairness and utility. Many on this list would argue
that no tax is fair, but that is hardly a universally accepted view.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou



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