Kevin O'Leary Hates The Death Tax: 'It Touches A Nerve'

The tax bill signed by President Donald Trump includes a major change to the death tax but fell short of completely eliminating the tax.

The Expert

Kevin O'Leary, notable investor, TV personality and chairman of O'Shares ETFs.

The Thesis

Many Americans spend their entire lives owning a business and assume a major financial risk along the way, O'Leary said as a guest during CNBC's "Squawk Box" segment Wednesday. But as Americans approach old age or are terminally ill and want to pass their assets along to their children or loved ones, the most "un-American" thing to do is to tax them when they die, O'Leary said. 

"We make them pay taxes all their lives, yet death triggers another grab from the government," he said. "It's so un-American it just turns my stomach. Every time you sell something you pay tax, every time you have income you pay tax. When you die you should be taxed? Yeah, it touches a nerve. I don't like it." 

Many other countries across the world have "given up" on a death tax. But in America, a death tax is seen by O'Leary as a way of punishing the successful and a means to "take their money back" and make sure the "winners in our society are clawed back to zero."

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