Dear Geoff, Hagbard, Max and other fellow Extropians:
The estate tax -- as well as all other taxes -- including the, albeit,
badly flawed, "progressive" income tax -- were initially conceived about
the time of the First World War, as a method of providing additional
revenue for increased governmental expenses and operations.
An additional and supplimental motivation was the somewhat Keynsian
theory of promoting social change through the re-distribution of the
wealth of an established oligarchy and the creation of greater
socio-economic equality.
As with many, or possibly most, legislative actions the influence of a
controling oligarchy created (primarily through campaign contributions;
See: Bribes) numerous exemptions to the legislation in order to allow
the oligarchy to maintain and transfer their assets to their heirs while
avoiding taxes.
In a limited democracy, such as the one presently we live in -- but do
not really control to any great extent -- the rule by economic proxy of
an ever changing, but usually self-serving oligarchy, remains a major
determining influence.
Obviously, if an estate tax were to be equitable, it would not include
the exemptions that currently exist, and the revenue generated would be
set aside in a specific account for socio-economic equalization.
The probabilities of this happening under the present campaign financing
scheme are currently slim to none. I suspect however, that they can, and
probably, eventually will be overcome to some extent through a somewhat
Toflerian "Power Shift".
If, in our paradigms, we merge a philosophy of fantasy with one of
reality, and consider the short, as well as the long term, possible
influence of a broad based and somewhat eglectic but still Extropian
philosophy on evolving cultures and society, it might be possible to
slowly alter and expand the extent of the conciousness of humankind.
The effort involved would, obviously, be substantial.
Can we afford, however, to ignore the current state of our developing
society and simply try to ignore our social, moral and ethical
responsabilities to present and future generations by closing our minds
to the realities of our times and engage in escapism by fully focusing
on our attentions and dreams of a distant but better future?
A.M. Genen