The Inheritance Tax

The following excerpts from the lectures I gave on the above subject in Lund last autumn term are published in the hope that they may be of broader interest. Admittedly, the inheritance tax is still without any great significance in Sweden, even after the latest reforms, but here as in other countries a further development of this tax is likely to be suggested sooner or later, and that being so, it may be advisable to try to arrive at a clear conception of the direction such a development ought to take, and the purposes for which it should be used. Further, the inheritance tax in itself and the question of its place in the tax system are of unusual interest, in the first instance, certainly, for theoretical reasons, but also because of the intimate connections with the great practical and social issues that are the order of the day. ¹ Finally, it is of course well known that the remodelling of some relevant parts of the Stamp Ordinance that was undertaken in Sweden in 1894 contained various innovations from a purely legal point of view, about whose value and practicability opinions were very divided; it may therefore be worthwhile to see to what extent the hopes and fears voiced at that time have been confirmed during the period in which the ordinance has so far been in force, and also to scrutinize the failings or weaknesses that practice, that most incorruptible of critics, may have revealed.