I Finland pågår det nu en debatt om arvsskatten. Debatten väcktes i och med ”liberala” tankesmedjan Libera kom med förslaget att ersätta dagens arvsskatt med en skatt på överlåtelsevinster.

Att endast beskatta överlåtelser är kanske något mindre destruktivt och omoraliskt, men det bästa vore ändå att bara avskaffa arvsskatten helt och hållet.

Om Sveriges socialdemokrater kunde inse vikten av att göra sig av med denna skadliga skatt, varför vågar då inte ens ”liberaler” gå lika långt? Det är patetiskt.

För äkta liberaler som desperat söker bättre argument för att göra slut på arvsskatten kan jag varmt rekommendera ekonomen George Reismans artikel ”A Wage Earner’s Case for Repealing the Inheritance Tax”:

I am a university professor, who earns a monthly salary, and one that is certainly not overwhelming in size. It’s very unlikely that I will ever leave an estate that is too large to qualify for the estate-tax exemption. Still less likely is it that I will ever inherit such an estate. Nevertheless, I am in favor of the repeal of the estate tax on all of the much larger estates that people other than myself will leave and that people other than myself will inherit. This is because I understand how I and all other wage and salary earners benefit from capital owned by other people, capital that will be substantially increased in its amount and thus in the benefits it can give if the inheritance tax is repealed.

Like all other wage and salary earners, I buy products and I sell labor. The supply of the products I buy and the demand for the labor I sell depend on the amount of capital that is invested in the society in which I live. The larger is the amount of that capital, the greater is the amount of means of production used to produce the products I buy and thus the better and more abundant is their supply and the lower-priced and more affordable they are. At the same time, the greater is the demand for the labor I sell and thus the higher are the wages or salary I earn.

Yes, I want to live in a society in which I am surrounded by the greatest possible number of very wealthy individuals who invest  their wealth in producing the products I buy and in employing the labor I sell. . .