Great, if true.

I am numberwang.

The issue is that that money has already been taxed. Taxing it again because they die and pass it along is just stupid.

I do not believe we should have to pay property tax, if we own the land outright why do I still need to pay the goverment? Sales tax is fine but I dont believe in extra sales tax based on type of goods. Take Tobacco and gas for instance. A simple sales tax on all goods would be better IMO. 

As I get older, I begin to realize that there is on way to trust anyone in politics. What our country needs is a better way to hold people liable for their promises to the people that put them in office.

With the way things currently are (or so it seems), people running for president can just say whatever they think the people want to hear in order to gain their vote, with no repercussions for not committing to any of their proposals.

What's the point, then?

It was the same deal back in the UK. My grandmother was a cleaner in the local school, working part-time on minimum wage. The school wanted to boost her pay, not by much, but a couple pounds per hour. She fought against it, because it would lose her qualification for a number of programs she relied on, and thus would be on the net worse off.

I can't give you exact numbers, because this is going off my own memory from about 12 years ago.

I imagine this is part of the reason why so many Walmart and McDonald's employees end up living on welfare. It doesn't make much sense to go for a promotion or put in the extra 10 hours per week, etc, it'll make you worse off.

The simplest solution would be a gradual degradation of payouts. I'm a big proponent of collapsing all welfare programs into a universal basic income which takes the form of a tax credit, and a very high initial tax rate. For example:

$12,000 ubi refundable credit, first $24k taxed at 50%. Next $1k taxed at 0%, then whatever tax system you want to apply from $25k onwards.

So, if you have zero income, you receive the full $12k. If you have a job that pays $12k, your net income would be $18k, and when you earn $24k you'll receive nothing. You get $1k of "bliss" with no tax, and then from $25k it's whatever.

All these numbers I chose for the simplicity of the math. The average social security payout is a little above $12k, so it would probably be replaced by the UBI, too.

But you have to pay sales tax with the same money that you also pay income taxes on!  How is that conceptually not the same sort of double taxation that you claim as one of the main reasons for your opposition to the estate tax? 

IMO it can sometimes make sense to tax particular things at different amounts, although I think this power should be used sparingly.  Take gas and tobacco, for example.  The gas tax is devoted to helping pay for the roads most of that gas is being used on and other transportation related things, but I would welcome debate over whether it's really necessary to have a special tax for that reason.  Tobacco is if I am not mistaken taxed specifically to discourage the use of that product.  Additionally, it is judged to come with a high cost to society so we tax it not only to discourage it but also to get back some of the cost that society is saddled with as a result of its use. 

I do like the concept, but the main reason I'm skeptical about ideas such as your UBI is that I'm concerned about the severity of fraud.  I happen to think that welfare fraud is an overblown issue in some circles, but it would be different if every living citizen of the United States was due $230 per week.  But maybe I'm underestimating the power of American bureaucracy! 

I believe that document is outdated. Here is the new proposal:

https://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/Tax%20Framework.pdf

One of the differences, for example, is the zero tax bracket is about half of what it was in the original Trump plan that you are going off of. 

(thats numberwang)

Oh, and heres a graph showing how the richer you are, the more this tax change helps you, not just in raw numbers, but proportionally:

No, that money was taxed for the person who made it.  It was not taxed for the people who are receiving it.  The people who are receiving it did nothing to make it so just like any personal gain you receive you should be taxed.  I am all for getting rid of the estate tax but only if as I stated, getting rid of bonus or personal gain that I am taxed as well.  If not they I do not see where I should accept any special privillage for the rich.  You can argue this all day but in the end, the people who are inheriting an estate did not contribute to the gain and thus should be tax just like everyone else.