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Daniel Halliday examines the moral grounding of the right to bequeath or transfer wealth. He engages with contemporary concerns about wealth inequality, class hierarchy, and taxation, while also drawing on the history of the egalitarian, utilitarian, and liberal traditions in political philosophy. He presents an egalitarian case for restricting inherited wealth, arguing that unrestricted inheritance is unjust to the extent that it enables and enhances the intergenerational replication of inequality. Here, inequality is understood in a group-based sense: the unjust effects of inheritance are principally in its tendency to concentrate certain opportunities into certain groups. This results in what Halliday describes as 'economic segregation'. He defends a specific proposal about how to tax inherited wealth: roughly, inheritance should be taxed more heavily when it comes from old money. He rebuts some sceptical arguments against inheritance taxes, and makes suggestions about how tax schemes should be designed.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Inheritance in Early Liberal Writings
- 3: The Utilitarian Case against Iterated Bequests
- 4: Inheritance and Luck
- 5: Inequality and Economic Segregation
- 6: Inheritance and the Intergenerational Replication of Inequality
- 7: Libertarianisms
- 8: Taxation
About the author
Daniel Halliday teaches political philosophy at Melbourne University. He works mainly on topics relating to justice and political economy. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University.
Summary
Daniel Halliday examines the morality of the right to bequeath or transfer wealth, and argues that inheritance is unjust to the extent that it enhances the intergenerational replication of inequality, concentrating opportunities in certain groups. He presents an egalitarian case for imposition of a significant inheritance tax.
Report
The argument is developed clearly ... Daniel Halliday's book would be a fine source for the principles by which to judge the effectiveness of the current system ... Daniel Halliday has made a cogent argument for a more concerted effort to reduce social segregation and its malign effects. Mark Hannam, Times Literary Supplement
