Wealth and near-100% inheritance taxes would undermine family businesses, property rights, and economic growth
Source: "Scott Kirby advocates wealth tax that could end up confiscating businesses | Fox News." October 25, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author argues that taxing wealth every year and taking nearly all of large inheritances would hurt family businesses, because owners hold value in company assets and not cash. They would have to sell or borrow, which means less investment and fewer jobs. He also says people should be able to pass on what they built, and that the better way to spread prosperity is to help more people become owners.
Conclusion
Scott Kirby's proposed national wealth tax and near-100% inheritance tax above a threshold should be rejected, because such confiscatory taxation would harm productive family businesses, weaken the incentive to build and bequeath wealth, and give government an unjustified claim on private property.
Premises
- Business owners' wealth is typically held in operating companies, buildings, equipment, and ownership interests, which are productive but illiquid.
- An annual wealth tax would demand cash based on estimated asset values even when the owner has received no corresponding income, forcing owners to borrow, sell assets, or withdraw capital from their businesses.
- Capital diverted to paying the tax would otherwise fund equipment, expansion, and hiring, so workers whose opportunities depend on that investment would be harmed.
- The ability to build something and leave it to one's family is a powerful economic incentive that drives risk-taking and growth, and taxing it near 100% would undermine that incentive.
- Government has no stronger moral claim to an estate than the people the owner chooses to support, and an arbitrary government-set threshold should not determine the extent of property rights.
- Confiscating a successful family's legacy does not by itself help another family build wealth, and government has a poor record of managing budgets and programs.
- Policy should be judged by whether it helps more Americans become owners, and expanding access to expertise, competition, and financing does this better than confiscatory taxation.
Assumptions
- Wealth taxes would be levied on unrealized asset values rather than realized income.
- Near-100% marginal rates on estates above a threshold are effectively confiscatory and not merely progressive.
- Forced liquidation or borrowing to pay the tax would reduce business investment and hiring on net.
- Private property rights, including the right to bequeath, carry strong moral weight that outweighs concerns about inherited privilege.
- Government spending of the revenue would be less productive than private reinvestment.
- Kirby's remarks can be treated as a meaningful proposal even though the threshold and design details are unspecified.
- Alternatives such as reducing barriers to entry can address inequality without redistributive taxation.