I’ve previously shared the famous parable that uses beer drinking to explain the tax system and here’s a funny video of a comedian talking about taxes and Halloween.
I also found this bit of tax humor from England, though it’s really more about redistribution than taxes, and I think this cartoon about class-warfare taxation and the economy hits the nail on the head.
But in all my years of blogging, I’ve never found a worthwhile cartoon on the death tax.
So I was very pleased when a professor of tax law gave a presentation in the Cayman Islands earlier this week and showed this clever cartoon about the death tax. He was kind enough to share it with me so I could share it with you.
If you want a serious but concise explanation of why the death tax is very bad policy, check out my column from USA Today. And here’s some very depressing data on how the death tax undermines American competitiveness.
P.S. One final serious point about the death tax. If you have a nest egg for your kids, it’s better to die in Australia than New Jersey.
P.P.S. There are a lot of jokes targeting the IRS, which isn’t really the same as tax policy humor. But many of them are worth sharing, including a new Obama 1040 form, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the IRS, an IRS-designed pencil sharpener, two Obamacare/IRS cartoons (here and here), a sale on 1040-form toilet paper (a real product), a song about the tax agency, the IRS’s version of the quadratic formula, and (my favorite) a joke about a Rabbi and an IRS agent.
International Liberty 
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] humor for tax day in 2021, so let’s do the same thing this year (other examples here, here, here, and […]
[…] My archive of IRS humor features a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a Reason video, a cartoon of how GPS would work […]
[…] My archive of IRS humor features a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a Reason video, a cartoon of how GPS would work […]
[…] this image to my archive of IRS humor, which already features a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a Reason video, a cartoon of how […]
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[…] sour note, so here are examples of IRS humor from my archives, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a Reason video, a cartoon of how GPS would work […]
[…] sour note, so here are examples of IRS humor from my archives, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a Reason video, a cartoon of how GPS would work if […]
[…] https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/death-tax-humor/ […]
[…] note, so here’s more examples of IRS humor from my archives, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] to get through the day, here’s my collection of IRS-related jokes: A new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] to get through the day, here’s my collection of IRS-related jokes: A new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] some oldies but goodies, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] through my archives, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] through my archives, here’s my collection of IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] is the second time the grim reaper has appeared in a cartoon. The first time involved the death […]
[…] is the second time the grim reaper has appeared in a cartoon. The first time involved the death […]
[…] such a good mood, I’ll share some of my other IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
The death tax is one of the most inhumane taxes ever devised by man.
Nice post Dan!
[…] Here’s a cartoon that is only funny if you don’t think too deeply about what it […]
[…] Here’s a cartoon that is only funny if you don’t think too deeply about what it […]
[…] is the second time the grim reaper has appeared in a cartoon. The first time involved the death […]
[…] such a good mood, I’ll share some of my other IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] a good mood, I’ll share some of my other IRS humor, including a new Obama 1040 form, a death tax cartoon, a list of tax day tips from David Letterman, a cartoon of how GPS would work if operated by the […]
[…] is the second time the grim reaper has appeared in a cartoon. The first time involved the death […]
[…] is the second time the grim reaper has appeared in a cartoon. The first time involved the death […]
[…] Here’s a cartoon that is only funny if you don’t think too deeply about what it […]
[…] P.P.S. It’s a morbid topic, but there is such a thing as death tax humor. […]
[…] P.P.S. It’s a morbid topic, but there is such a thing as death tax humor. […]
[…] P.P.S. It’s a morbid topic, but there is such a thing as death tax humor. […]
It is simple to see why the death tax is destructive.
You have developed ten successfull drugs which have saved at least a few lives each, possibly thousands, and you have thus made, lets say, ten million.
You are contemplating continuing on your success path and create your eleventh drug which will net you another million. You already feel a bit unenthusiastic now, since the difference between ten million and eleven is not that great (marginal happiness per wealth earned decreases — which is why it is difficult to keep competent people employed in the first place rather than joining thousands of French in the Carribean). But wait, the new million will hardly be a million. Especially if you live in a high tax state, like say California, this million will be taxed at about fifty percent when all the immediate net taxes are added. Then, at the end of your life, the remainder will be taxed at another fifty percent — nobody knows yet what the percentage is– leaving you working for twenty five cents to the dollar. Work for what? So that you can leave your family every morning to go work two hours for them and then from eleven to five work for the people? Thanks, but no thanks. The Carribean, or any other place for that matter, on ten million and plenty of family time will do just fine.
But in the finite pie world of the left, that million you leave behind (and the drug you leave unexplored, and the lives you will leave unsaved, and the couple of new employment opportunities you will create) will now be earned by someone at the unemployment line.
But this is not the way things work, especially when your death tax will help insulate the unemployed from the consequences of mediocrity for a few more months. Yes, I know that there are many sad stories at the unemployment line, to which we may even give voluntarily through charitable organizations (especially if the government were not already acting as the center of seventy five percent mandatory compassion). But let’s face it, motivational levels at the unemployment line AND throughout the long the life trajectories that led to that line, are not that bright.
But you go convince voters to keep their hands of the extra million. Those democracies that resist this automatic tendency will prosper. The others will slide into worldwide averagedom. Three quarters of what government does, derives its power from a desire to redistribution –even government actions not directly related to redistribution.
Ironically, some of those very patients in the cartoon will be dying because the very drug that you would have developed instead of going to the Carribean, took another ten years to eventually discover in a low growth economy that adulterates the motivation of its most competent people. As time goes by, the divergence between high and low growth trajectories widens and becomes a chasm. You may feel growth is secondary in the short term, but eventually you will cry uncle. When? When you get to France? When you get to Italy? When you get to Spain? When you get to Greece? Venezuela? As you will see from the trajectories of the above nations, the path you have chosen is irreversible. The desperation of decline, automatically triggers the electorate to vote for more statism. And America’s middle class, the top fifteen percent of worldwide wealth, will find itself in the true middle class: the worldwide middle class. Not that much by declining herself, but by being caught up with and squeezed out by the four billion mass of awakening humanity. THAT will feel very different. Those capable, competent, or simply highly (ie “greedily”) motivated to produce exceptional life changing things will find environments that will let them keep their modest (compared to the benefit they provide) rewards. That place does not look like it will be America. Not a nation that slid to number eighteen in economic freedom rank in just a few short years.