re: The Wealthy in Florence Today Are the Same Families as 600 Years Ago

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Well, destroying wealth via the inheritance tax doesn't seem like a good idea to me when the goal is to create wealth.

Not to mention, wealth isn't a fixed pie.

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If the wealth accumulated by others is put back into the economy, then I understand the motivation for not wanting such a tax. Think about if you're apart of a rich family that owns masses of land, or stocks in a few powerful companies. They could sit on that for how long? What is the motivation for them to put their money into the economy? Even now, you have companies putting massive amounts of cash on off-shore accounts.....and thats just the big companies...not telling how many private citizen accounts are being held in off-shore accounts. Thats the type of thing that doesn't help spread the wealth. I'm not saying its a huge thing, but its a clear example of those with power being secretly reluctant to but hundreds of billions of dollars into our country...its sad to think about really.