https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-...f-life/8058578
Inheritance taxes efficient, but unpopular
Inheritance taxes are incredibly efficient on economic grounds.
After all, you can't really change your behaviour to avoid them. We're all going to die one day.
This is surely one of the biggest frustrations for economists — for some reason, the 'best' taxes also seem to be some of the most unpopular ones.

People grudgingly accept income tax and stamp duty, which are 'bad' taxes.
They discourage people from doing positive things, like working more or moving to a more suitable home.
There is one big flaw in inheritance taxes, aside from being deeply unpopular, however.
Experience shows that many people manage their affairs to minimise the inheritance tax they have to pay.
For instance, they might set up a family trust during their lifetime to avoid some of the tax bill.
These problems are not insurmountable, after all there's plenty of historical experience in Australia and current lessons from overseas about how governments can minimise this avoidance.

However, the combination of avoidance and various exemptions (such as high thresholds) used to minimise popular backlash against death duties mean they raise relatively little revenue.
Belgium raises the largest proportion of its taxes from the dead but, even there, the OECD found estate taxes make up just 1.6 per cent of total tax revenue.

So are death duties worthwhile if they raise so little?
The answer is yes if they prove to be an effective tool to redistribute some of the accumulated assets of the wealthy to those born without a silver spoon anywhere near their mouths.
Certainly, renowned economist and author of a best-selling analysis of wealth and income inequality, Professor Thomas Piketty, thinks estate taxes have a significant role to play.
"If you have labour income of $50,000 or $100,000 you are going to pay a lot of tax, but if you receive $1 million or $2 million in property from your family the tax rate will be zero per cent — there is no inheritance tax — which is very small as a tax rate."