Adam Smith had a problem with inheritance too, IIRC.

I think that inheritance, like procreation, is tied to human instinct. Procreation is to ensure continuation of the genome and species while inheritance provides an advantage to that genome. That's what we do. It is a huge reason why men and women get up every morning and go to work -- to provide advantages for their young. If many of us didn't have that perception of responsibility then society's engine would soon sputter to a halt as Mr Bot and his cohorts all decided to take the day off and drink beer while fishing.

But that desire to provide advantages to our young appears to be in conflict with the social responsibility we have to our culture. How do we reconcile it? I think it is by NOT totally embracing Carnegie's path but also by not ignoring it. So we tax the inheritance, not to punish hard working parents but to decrease the probability of creating self-perpetuating estates, "trusts". the argument currently is over how much "death tax" is appropriate. Carnegie says 100%.

B