Reparations and Inheritances: Let’s Connect the Dots

Dot #1 — In a New York Times editorial two weeks ago, Lily Batchelder argued that America should tax inheritances at a higher rate. She cites the astounding fact that households of boomers and older hold $84 trillion in wealth. Think about that number, and recall that the US government shocked the world by spending $5 trillion to support Americans through the Covid-19 economic crisis. $84 trillion, then, is nothing to sneeze at.

Tax revenue paid into the US treasury from inheritances has shrunk to a trickle over the past 20 years. Simply…