A recent report by Wealth X examined how much wealth the ultra-rich are expected to pass down to their heirs in the coming years. Of the millionaires and billionaires, the richest 2.7% will be responsible for 38% of all wealth that is passed to heirs by the year 2030. As a result of the high exemptions for inherited wealth in the United States, many heirs are able to receive 100% of inherited wealth passed down inter-generationally. The 40% tax rate on inherited wealth only applies to wealth which passes the $12.06 million exemption threshold. As a result of the favorable laws surrounding inheritance, the richest Americans are able to pass down their estates with limited taxation, including but not limited to real estate, investments, cash, etc.
Capitalism allows the wealthiest individuals who own the means of production to pass down their wealth indefinitely to their heirs maintaining a rigid class order based on heredity. Despite the rhetoric of the “self-made man” and the supposed upward mobility allowed by free-markets, in reality we see wealth being passed down inter-generationally through inheritance. Like its slave and feudal predecessors capitalism is a class society based on the exploitation of man-by-man, namely the exploitation of the workers by the capitalists. While the capitalists will ideologically defend and justify their positions as exploiters, the facts show that like its slave and feudal predecessors wealth has a tendency to stay “in the family”.
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