Why Is the Estate Tax so Controversial?

Beckert, Jens

doi:10.1007/s12115-008-9145-x

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Why Is the Estate Tax so Controversial?

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Beckert, Jens
Soziologie des Marktes, MPI for the Study of Societies, Max Planck Society;

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12115-008-9145-x
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Citation

Beckert, J. (2008). Why Is the Estate Tax so Controversial? Society, 45(6), 521-528. doi:10.1007/s12115-008-9145-x.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-471B-C

Abstract

There are some social issues whose significance for society nobody would seriously question but which nevertheless receive only scarce attention in sociological research. One of these is the bequest of private wealth from one generation to the next. It is currently estimated that about 550 billion dollars are transferred annually in the United States, amounting to more than 4% of the American gross national product (Havens and Schervish 1999). Not only is this a huge amount of wealth that changes ownership, but the bequest of wealth speaks to some of the core questions of sociological scholarship.