Wealthy Americans Thinking about Suicide

The U.S. stopped imposing the inheritance tax for one year starting from Jan. 1 this year. That means that those dying wealthy Americans can avoid the heavy tax with the tax rate as high as 45 percent, as long as they are still alive after Jan. 1 this year. However, it might end very soon. If Congress does not take any actions, the inheritance tax will return. Some rich people are thinking about committing suicide before the end of 2010 to catch the last chance of this free tax, in order to let the family get a bigger share of an inheritance (August 3, Guangzhou Daily).

There is a paradoxical impression of America in many Chinese people’s minds: it seems as if America is the paradise of the rich. However, just by looking at the inheritance tax, this “paradise” is relentless enough — when you die, almost half of your property will be taken away by the government with no mercy. This is simply worse than gun robbery. The wealthy Americans have been calling for abolishing the inheritance tax, because they think that this tax will force rich people to leave the U.S. and immigrate to other countries. Although the former U.S. President Bush expended a tremendous effort, he only managed to get this one year of “tax-exempt window period.” He did not expect that this would get the rich people who are either old or sick into Hamlet-like trouble. An 80-year-old rich man said: “You just don’t know what to do, whether to kill yourself or continue to live.” A lawyer was concerned that heirs might attempt to unplug their dying relatives’ oxygen.

From this, I thought of the Chinese media playing up the topic of “the third emigration trend of the wealthy” recently. Although there are articles talking about it at great length, they can be summarized into one sentence: China is not treating rich people well enough, and that is why they have left and therefore caused the loss of wealth and elites, while America is undoubtedly the main destination of the “emigration trend.” However, this news about America’s inheritance tax made me realize that the so-called emigration trend of the wealthy (if it does exist) is, I am afraid, only a “blindness trend,” because America does not treat rich people better than China. At least, China does not have an inheritance tax! It is like having escaped one trap only to fall into another. So what is the point? It seems to me that emigrating to the moon is the best option for the safety of rich people’s wealth. There are neither groups who hate the rich, nor the inheritance tax. It can be considered a true paradise of the rich.

If America is not the paradise of rich people, then considering the so-called emigration trend of the wealthy is likely some kind of strategy, grumbling, and even a threat, with a purpose of fighting for more privileges for rich people. However, aren’t there enough privileges for rich people in China? It is reported that a lot of places set up “super-national treatment” for “investors” (they are rich people, of course). Rich people enjoy all kinds of privileges…so how do you make them feel that China is “livable”? Do they really need to be crowned and enjoy hereditary privileges?

It seems that we really need to learn from America on the issue of how to treat rich people. Although the U.S. is accused of “encouraging death” by some American media, the Congress does not seem to care, with no intention of changing the policy of restoring the inheritance tax. China should also introduce taxes that can adjust the gap between the rich and the poor as soon as possible, such as the inheritance tax, the gift tax, etc. Taking into account the current circumstances in China, China should also introduce the emigration tax. The rich people and officials, who leave China to emigrate to other countries, have to pay the emigration tax, with a tax rate of more than 70 percent of the total property. It is not revenge by taking such measures. It is to prevent the wealth created by hard-working Chinese people from being taken overseas by these “huge rats.” Meanwhile, it is also to realize the solemn commitment of “mutual help and mutual well-being” — in my opinion, mutual well-being is the only effective way to stop the “emigration trend” and retain the wealth and talents.