According to a new 24-country survey by the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), the U.S. imposes among the most burdensome death taxes in the world. As SBSC has pointed out repeatedly, the death tax is a leading cause of dissolution of family-owned businesses.

The United States' top federal death tax rate of 55% is only exceeded by Japan's 70% rate. Meanwhile, six nations--Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico--impose no death taxes. And the average to death tax rate for the 24 nations surveyed registers 21.6%.

In a global economy where capital is becoming increasingly mobile, onerous death taxes in the U.S. place us at a severe competitive disadvantage. At the very least, the U.S. should lower its death tax rate to the international average of 21.6%, but ideally, we should simply eliminate this layer of multiple taxation altogether.