What is a political issue that you want to understand the opposite viewpoint more?

[Final-Fan]

Ka-pi96 said:

Final-Fan said:

Perhaps it would help if I framed it a little differently.  Here are two different ways of looking at it.  I would appreciate it if you answered the follow-up questions. 

#1: 
The government is currently raising X dollars in taxes.  They do this by income tax, sales tax, property tax, etc. etc and the estate tax.  In order to do tax reform in a revenue neutral way, abolishing the estate tax would mean a raise in income tax, or some other tax. 

My follow-up question is thus:  Would you be for or against a proposal to abolish the estate tax while simultaneously raising other taxes to make up the difference? 

Anyone who is against this proposal isn't really opposed to the estate tax but just wants to cut taxes and is using the estate tax as a convenient boogeyman to do so. 

#2: 
The estate tax is nothing more than a "delayed income tax".  Delayed until you die.  Granted, it doesn't work 100% exactly the same as income tax does, but if you have accumulated wealth during your lifetime, surely this could be considered income.  My follow-up question is thus either (A) If you disagree with the "delayed income tax" concept, why? or (B) If not, what is worse about a delayed tax versus one that affects you when you're alive? 

#1 If other taxes need to be raised in order to pay for the things they are supposed to pay for, then fair enough. But really, you could probably abolish estate tax and make up the money quite easily by cutting government spending on things that they really be spending money on in the first place.

#2 If you're going to frame it as a delayed income tax, then no that isn't so bad. The issue with that is that people are already paying a regular income tax. So nothing is technically worse with it than regular income tax, but if you're going that route then it should really be one or the other and not both.

Why shouldn't it be both?  In other words, using random numbers as an example, why would a 35% income tax be better than 30% now and 5% later? 

(To me, I'd think that the longer I get to hang on to my money, the better.  That's why I love the estate tax:  they don't collect it until I'm already dead.  That seems like a better deal than having to pay the same tax while I'm alive.)