Attempts to repeal the infamous death tax have stalled in Congress — again. As things stand now, after 2011 anyone who has more than $1 million in life savings (including a house, business or IRA) will automatically lose half of it when he dies through the double taxation called an estate tax.

The real issue of the death tax isn’t the actual amount of money you leave your children, but on a deeper level, the issue is ultimately one of ownership and private property.

Do your life savings belong to you and your family or to the federal government?

The answer seems absurdly simple until the politics of envy kick in. Since most of us don’t stand to inherit more than a million dollars, it’s easy to become envious of those who will.

Politicians are keenly aware of this, and when they promise to stick it to the rich with a 50 percent inheritance tax, many Americans cheer them on. Jealousy and covetousness are part of human nature.

But whether your life savings exceed a million or not, all Americans are affected by the way the politics of envy erode private property and elevate jealousy to the level of public policy.

My net worth is in the thousands and Bill Gates’ is in the billions. But I shouldn’t resent his success or encourage my government to seize half of his net worth just because he’s a lot more successful.

If a billionaire wants to leave his money to charity or to his children or just waste it all on a solid gold tomb, his money is his property and neither I nor anyone else in this life has a claim to it. (It’s worth remembering, however, that we’ll all have to give account of ourselves in the next.)

My best friends from high school chose different careers and today we earn different amounts of money. One’s making a killing in real estate, another left a successful career as an engineer to become a missionary, and I’m a heavy machinery operator.

The beauty of America isn’t that we all have the same cash on hand, but rather that we all have the same freedom to work and save as little or as much as we choose. Nothing’s stopping me from changing careers if I wanted.

Each of us makes conscious choices that dictate the size of our estate. One man spends every cent he earns, and then some, while another lives on less than he makes and invests for the future. But whether you end up with a little or much, the money you earn through your own honest labor should be yours to do with what you will.

We would all be shocked if someone went over to our neighbor’s house after he died, rifled through his wallet and stole one of his cars. But the IRS does it every day. And many Americans are not only OK with that — but justify it by saying that man’s children didn’t need two cars and all that cash.

Envy is a powerful emotion and is used very effectively by some politicians. But jealousy is like poison coursing through society’s veins, and those who use it for political gain ruin the character of the people by punishing hard work and rewarding laziness.

Coveting what your neighbor has and asking the government to take it from him is wrong whether he’s dead or alive.



Craig Ziemba is a military pilot who lives in Meridian. To schedule Craig Ziemba to speak at your church, school, or event, e-mail him at craigziemba@aol.com.