ABSTRACT
Voluntary tax is a tax paid by those who dislike the Revenue less than they dislike their heirs.' 'A tax on vice—the vice of clinging to one's property until the last possible moment.' These descriptions have been applied to the major capital tax in the United Kingdom—an estate duty with a nominal severity almost unparalleled, but amongst the easiest of death duties to avoid. A reformed death duty must be considered in the context of wealth taxation as a whole. People differ on how far the equalizing process should be pushed; but few would disagree that the main purpose of a modern death duty is to do something towards evening out inequalities in the distribution of wealth. Death duties have singular advantages for this role; no other form of capital tax can achieve the same effect with less antagonism and less economic disturbance.
