re: #661 Guanxi88

I think the gist of the argument is that the taxable event generated by the death and transfer of, say, a business, could be sufficiently large as to require the liquidation of the underlying taxed asset in order to cover the liability. That kills the business.

Exactly.
This is a particular problem for family farms.
The wealth is the property; there is little cash as many farmers operate on a shoestring from one year to the next.

This whole issue is actually not a problem for me; my estate will never be substantial enough for an estate tax to kick in.

The people it hurts are folks like farmers; the tax is on the value of the property; the heirs do not have that sort of cash and so the family farm must be sold in order to pay the estate tax. I think this is criminal.