Kill the estate tax

Caroline Freund writes at PIIE that the estate tax is a key tool for fighting US inequality. I strongly disagree. It's easy to rebut her main points, since they defy logic and are based on faulty statistics. What follows are some quotes from the article and my rebuttals:

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the US estate tax, which affects only the ultra-wealthy.
–Not true. Narrowly defined, the US estate tax affects only people whose estate currently exceeds $5.45 million, or couples whose estate exceeds $10.9 million. However, that is hardly a reasonable definition of "ultra-wealthy" in a era when it takes a net worth of at least $1.7 billion to make the Forbes 400 list. More broadly, the estate tax affects anyone who is wealthy or hopes to one day become wealthy—and those are the people who are most likely among the most productive members of society. The estate tax is effectively a punishment on success, since it amounts to the legalized theft by the state of money people have worked hard to accumulate, and upon which they have already paid tax at least twice (once when they paid income tax on their earnings, and a second time when the equity investments they made with their after-tax earnings had their profits taxed). Punishing success is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

There is no productive activity in inheriting a large sum of money, so it does little to distort the economy.
-On the contrary, the estate tax creates huge distortions in the economy. How else to explain the virtual army of accountants and lawyers who toil to reduce the estate tax liabilities of their clients? How else to explain why the insurance industry—which sells a legal run-around to the estate tax in the form of life insurance policies—fights so hard to keep the estate tax in place? How else to explain why today's mega-billionaires (e.g., Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) are directing that their estates be donated to charitable foundations? I don't know anyone who wants to give almost half of the wealth they have accumulated after a lifetime of work to the government.

Historically such taxes have worked well in the United States, raising revenue and redistributing wealth.
-No, the estate tax has hardly worked at all. In the most recent 12 months, the federal estate tax generated revenues of only $21.4 billion, a paltry 0.6% of total federal revenue. How does redistributing $21 billion qualify as income redistribution, when personal income is currently running at a $16 trillion annual rate? How can anyone justify having a behavior- and economy-distorting tax that redistributes only 0.13% of total income? How well will the mega-billion Gates Foundation fight inequality, when it is extremely likely that it will spend only 5% per year of its endowment on charitable activities (the legal minimum required of any charitable organization)? No one really knows, but that doesn't seem to worry the people who defend the estate tax.

The author laments the fact that the estate tax has been reduced in recent decades, erroneously claiming that the estate tax generated $216 billion in 2001, when in fact it generated only $28.2 billion at a time when personal income was $9 trillion (0.3%). In the past 35 years, the estate tax has never generated more than 0.35% of total personal income in any one year.

The author further erroneously claims that the estate taxes collected in 2001 could cover the cost of food stamps "14 times over." That is wildly off the mark, since the total cost of food stamps in 2001 was $18 billion, whereas estate tax revenues were $28.2 billion.

If we eliminated the estate tax in its entirety, the economy would most likely strengthen, living standards would rise, and the impact on the federal deficit would be nil. Eliminating the estate tax would increase people's incentives to invest and accumulate wealth—wealth which is enjoyed by everyone, just as we all benefit from the fruits of successful companies. And with increased wealth and incomes, federal revenues would increase. By making this assertion, I rely on nothing more than my strongly-held belief that people are able to invest their own money much more efficiently and productively than government bureaucrats and politicians can.

UPDATE: Scott Adams (Dilbert) recently posted a quick-and-dirty takedown of the estate tax and Clinton's proposal to raise it (in the same post he also explains why he is now endorsing Trump):

Clinton proposed raising estate taxes. I understand that issue and I view it as robbery by government.  

 ... under Clinton’s plan, estate taxes would be higher for anyone with estates over $5 million(ish). I call this a confiscation tax because income taxes have already been paid on this money. In my case, a dollar I earn today will be taxed at about 50% by various government entities, collectively. With Clinton’s plan, my remaining 50 cents will be taxed again at 50% when I die. So the government would take 75% of my earnings from now on. 

Yes, I can do clever things with trusts to avoid estate taxes. But that is just welfare for lawyers. If the impact of the estate tax is nothing but higher fees for my attorney, and hassle for me, that isn’t good news either. 

You can argue whether an estate tax is fair or unfair, but fairness is an argument for idiots and children. Fairness isn’t an objective quality of the universe. I oppose the estate tax because I was born to modest means and worked 7-days a week for most of my life to be in my current position.