ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on norms as they apply to the taxation of gratuitous transfers. It impact on the choice of wealth transfer tax system. Internal-to-tax norms pertain to the institution of taxation, as opposed to society at large. The noninstrumental internal-to-tax norm is "tax fairness". The instrumental, practical internal-to-tax norm is more related to tax system design, doctrine, and enforcement, considerations that will be touched upon in discussing the various means of taxing wealth transfers. A personal income tax, as advocated by the American economist Henry Simons in his seminal 1938 book Personal Income Taxation, is explicitly based on the notion that tax fairness, that is, how the tax burden should be apportioned among the population, can only be determined by reference to the relative economic attributes of the various individuals subject to the taxing jurisdiction. The chapter focuses on traditional academic perspective on whether wealth transfers taxes are desirable, and, if so, what form one should take.
