estate tax

is antithetical to our values, for one of property's most valuable features, and that tending most to the perpetuation of society itself, is the ability to pass it along to our families.

The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it, and that which tends most to the perpetuation of society itself. It makes our weakness subservient to our virtue... it grafts benevolence even upon avarice. The possession of family wealth and of the distinction which attends hereditary possessions (as most concerned in it,) are the natural securities for this transmission.

estate tax, n.Definitions

estate tax