The United States has many wonderful traditions that we all agree are great, from apple pie to baseball.
Some traditions are certainly less fun than others… like the tradition of taxing assets at death.
An example of this tradition was demonstrated by the family of Kristi Noem (R-SD).
Her father died unexpectedly when she was only 22 years old. The family owned land, machinery, and cattle, but they didn’t have any money in the bank.
Shortly after her father died, they got a bill in the mail from the IRS. They either had to sell their family farm or get a loan to pay the IRS for their father’s death. They couldn’t just sell their family farm, so they chose a loan. It took them years to pay it off!
The Noem Family story represents the struggle many are faced with, when attempting to pass their hard work to the next generation.
Estate taxes like this first began in 1797 to fund wars. During the 1920s through the 1940s, estate taxes were used as another attempt to facilitate the “redistribution of wealth.” And have continued to increase ever since then.
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