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Such levies pit two vital liberal principles against each other.
這類征稅置自由主義的兩項關鍵原則于相互沖突之中。
One is that governments should leave people to dispose of their wealth as they see fit.
一是，政府應當讓人們資源處置自己的財富。
The other is that a permanent, hereditary elite makes a society unhealthy and unfair.
二是，永久、世襲的精英會讓社會變得不健康和不公平。
How to choose between them?
如何在兩者之間選擇呢？
Some people argue for a punitive inheritance tax.
有些人贊成懲罰性繼承稅。
They start with the negative argument that dead people no longer enjoy the general freedom to disburse their wealth as they wish—as the dead have no rights.
他們從反面論據入手，認為死人不再享有按照其愿望處置個人財富的一般自由——因為死人沒有任何權利。
How could they, when they are not affected one way or the other by what happens in the world?
當他們無論如何都不受世事的影響時，他們怎么可能享有權利呢？
That does not ring true.
這聽起來不假。
The logic would be to abrogate even the most modest of wills.
其邏輯會是取消哪怕是最適當的意愿。
But inheritances are deeply personal and the biggest single gift that many give to causes they believe in and loved ones they may have cherished.
但是，遺贈物是絕對私人的，是許多人饋贈給他們信奉的事業和他們可能摯愛的人的最大的單一禮物。
Many (living) people would feel wronged if they could not provide for their children.
如果不能提供給自己的后代，許多（活著的）人會覺得待其不公。
If anything, as the expression of their last wishes, bequests carry more weight than their passing fancies do.
如果有什么不同的話，作為他們遺愿的表達，遺贈物比流逝的幻想帶有更大的分量。
The positive argument for steep inheritance taxes is that they promote fairness and equality.
贊成嚴苛的繼承稅的正面論據是，它們促進公平和平等。
Heirs have rarely done anything to deserve the money that comes their way.
子孫后代們幾乎毫無應該得到來到他們面前的這筆錢的作為。
Liberals, from John Stuart Mill to Theodore Roosevelt, thought that needed correcting.
從約翰·斯圖亞特·穆勒到西奧多·羅斯福的自由主義者認為，這需要糾正。
Roosevelt, who warned that letting huge fortunes pass across generations was “of great and genuine detriment to the community at large”, would doubtless be aghast at the situation today.
曾經發出讓巨大的財富世代相傳“是對整個社會巨大且真正傷害”之警告的羅斯福，無疑會對當今之現狀感到驚愕。
Annual flows of inheritance in France have tripled as a proportion of GDP since the 1950s.
在法國，自上世紀50年代以來，年均繼承流站GDP的比例增長了三倍。
Half of Europe's billionaires have inherited their wealth, and their number seems to be rising.
一半的歐洲富人繼承了他們的財富，而且數量似乎正在上升。
