Actual (estimates of) Laffer curves are not symmetric; the maximum is not generally at 50%

Cutting a tax by increasing exemptions will likely make the tax more progressive. Progressive implies inefficient.

The problem is not corporations themselves, but a government that has gotten so big the rewards to corruption are vast. Even a tiny slice of the pie is a pretty big take.

I have to agre with you that the estate tax is a good target, but it will never be big enough to make a real dent n government. It will also never have enough support to eliminate it.d

Tax rates are one of the keys to making America competitive again. We have some of the highest business taxes among developed countries. I agree with you that tax rates must be cut enough to reduce government revenues and choke the beast to get it under control. Government is strangling us as we watch it grow.

With the estate tax, you have a situation where the life insurance lobby is spending millions of dollars a year and making billions from “second-to-die” insurance premiums on policies sold to small business owners.

It seems almost like a chicken and egg scenario. Did great wealth beget an enlarged government or did an enlarged government help their “friends” garner great wealth?

I think, either way, the answer is to cut taxes–starting with the estate tax. It’s nothing but corporate welfare for life insurance companies.