It seems fair to allow a successful people to enjoy their fortunes while they are alive. It is quite another matter to create a sort of aristocracy by allowing huge wealth to be passed on to the next generation and for that wealth to be barely taxed at all. But this is what so many people seem to want most jealously, and it is perverse.

The British government plans to raise the Inheritance Tax threshold from £325,000 to £1m. Allowing people to “pass things down the generations”, says David Cameron, “helps build a “stronger society””.

If you want to do something about reducing the gap between rich and poor, scrap the Inheritance Tax altogether and tax inherited money like ordinary income. That would get rid of all the dubious tax avoidance schemes to do with inheritance that are rife in Britain. (adapted from an article in The Guardian by Polly Toybee).

Cameron is talking total nonsense! More often than not the kids take to fast cars, loose women and long vacations in Las Vegas. The Inheritance Tax is almost ridiculously easy to avoid, if you want to. Epicurus would totally agree with the suggestion to scrap it and tax inheritance at the highest marginal rate. Inheriting large amounts of money seldom does any good to anyone. Occasionally, an heir or heiress does good works, helps the poor, establishes a Foundation and creates a better world. More often it breeds arrogance and entitlement and the “poor little rich girl” type of situation. Drugs often figure in the equation, and there is no incentive to make a lot of one’s life. The fortune is frittered away to no good purpose.