The standard view from the left about the proposed repeal of the estate tax is that it is, as MSNB…
The standard view from the left about the proposed repeal of the estate tax is that it is, as MSNBC said, a "massive tax break for millionaires, billionaires."
But the reason they generally justify the estate tax is that it is not actually taxing anyone, because the person supposedly being taxed is, well, dead.
They cannot have it both ways. If it is a person, it is double taxation. If it is not a person, it is not a massive tax cut for the wealthy.
Of course, you could argue that it is a tax on the recipients of the inheritance -- after all, the estate tax only kicks in if the value of the estate is over $5 million -- but that doesn't fit because the inheritors very well might not be millionaires, even after receiving the inheritance, depending on how it is valued, how many ways it is split, and how much debt the heirs have.
Also, if you're talking about it being a tax on the heirs, then the tax should not be based on the value of the estate, but on the income of each individual heir.
Calling this a tax break for rich people is simply dishonest, no matter how you slice it. 
With rising economic inequality, a $269 billion tax break, exclusively for multi-millionaires and billionaires, seems obscene.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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