Owner of the turf or tax-paying serf?

We’ve posted a couple of stories under the title American property rights in action which tell how a group of wealthy Americans are joining a campaign started by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates in which participants pledge to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity.  To that we say hooray for the ability to exercise property rights as every American should so be able to do.

It’s great if these folks want to give their money to charity, but it’s equally great if people want their children or other designated heirs to inherit their assets.  In the vein of freedom, we support the right of Leona Helmsley and Gail Posner (though that case has some suspicious elements) to leave their estates to the care of dogs.  The operative terms being their money, assets or estates.

Having said that, Warren Buffet is a well-known supporter of the inheritance tax, also known as the Death Tax.  This campaign brought to mind a recent exchange at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s Right Online conference in Las Vegas.  A panel discussing the Death Tax comprised American Family Business Institute President Dick Patten, syndicated radio host Herman Cain and Americans for Prosperity Director of Policy Phil Kerpen.

EstateofDenial.com’s Lou Ann Anderson asked a question of the panel regarding the legal industry’s perspective on the Death Tax.  Click here to see the article which prompted Anderson’s question.  Click here for AFBI President Dick Patten’s response.

“It may come down to this one question.  Do we actually have property rights or are we merely tax-paying serfs that when our heart stops beating, our property reverts to the government?”

In today’s political and economic climate, that’s a compelling question.