Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

<DIV><P> Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions saving behavior the distribution and level of wealth tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.</P></DIV>