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I admit I have a problem with taxing money that's already been taxed, but let's not make more of this than it is.
This is hardly the 'sick old pensioner gets robbed blind by mustache-twirling villains' story you seem bent on painting it as, Grundle.
What *I* find sad is the fact that, while this guy was able to save up enough money to express it in millions, he didn’t have the sense to hire an accountant or something to help him protect his money from the stormtroopers.
I also find it sad that it never occurred to the poor old bastard to spend more of the money before he died. I mean, at a certain point he should have seen how much money he had, and how little time he had left, and started flying first class instead of economy and started blowing money on his family (and charities) while he was still alive to enjoy it. If I had $3/4 million sitting around, every time one of my nephews had a birthday their college fund would be getting a donation large enough to have a comma in it, on top of the usual presents.
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Certain people <cough> are always saying that we should lower taxes because it will encourage people to spend more money on goods & services, which will put money into the tax base, and also encourage people to spend more money on charities, reducing the need for tax-funded social programs. So surely the estate tax has to be a good thing, since it also encourages people to spend more money on goods, services and charities, if only to spite the government.
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