Taxes are the name of the political games being played throughout the country these days.
On the national level, a particularly fierce debate is being waged about the issue of tax fairness: Should the wealthy be required to pay more?
In Indiana another argument is being conducted about the fairness of a particular levy — the state’s long-standing inheritance tax.
This question should not be about who pays the tax or how much. It should simply be about how quickly we can get rid of it.
The inheritance tax has to be considered one of the most unfair levies assessed against residents of the state. Many argue that it is in a league of its own.
It represents the ultimate in double taxation. Taxes usually already have been paid on assets in an estate, but when estates are settled, the state can once again dip into many of them to take another piece of the action.
This is not the only instance of double taxation on record, but its effects are particularly devastating in very personal ways.
Proponents argue that the inheritance tax only applies to the wealthy. Any inheritance under $100,000 is exempt from taxation, and the top rate for portions of estates of more than $1.5 million is 10 percent.
That argument might make sense to those who would argue that this particular revenue is essential to the operations of state government, but in some cases it can mean that heirs would have to sell part or all of something so precious as a family farm or a mom and pop business simply to pay the taxes due upon them — again.
There is nothing fair about that kind of proposition, either to the heirs or to those who labored to pass something so dear to them on to their descendants.
Hoosier legislators are looking at either eliminating the inheritance tax or scaling it back. But even proponents of these plans express concerns that the lost revenue from such actions would have to be made up from some other source.
That is a concern that should in no way impede the revocation of this onerous tax.
The bottom line is that the tax on these assets already has been paid. To take even more smacks of legal theft.