Shunning estate taxation costs more than it saves.

Evidence

Indeed, it is easy to unmask the political priorities at stake when considering, for example, the cost to American citizens of not taxing the rich. According to the US Treasury, taxing capital gains at death instead of allowing them to be passed on untaxed would raise over 400 billion for the country over the next decade, almost exclusively from the wealthiest 1 percent. In 2023 the federal government spent less than a third of this amount on nutrition assistance programs, including food stamps. The systematic defunding of the Internal Revenue Service is another emblematic case in point. The firing of public employees under the pretext of depleting state coffers has ironically cost an estimated 7.5 trillion in over a decade, nearly 4.5 times the 2023 fiscal year deficit. Austerity capitalism is expensive. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 157

Categorization

• QUESTION: The $7.5 trillion IRS-defunding figure is strong and worth verifying against the underlying estimate before relying on it.
• SHARE: The $7.5 trillion IRS defunding cost — 4.5x the annual deficit — is a striking number for anyone writing on tax administration.