Estate planning, along with ‘trusts’ have basically protected the rich. You can go and look at Steve Jobs at Apple...and the massive fortune that he had. I’m pretty sure a trust exists in his case.
any large land holder or estae holder that doesnt have their assets in trust is plain dumb.
This is why farms and ranches are now run by “corporations”.
The corporate structure solves a LOT of problems when it comes to transferring assets from one generation to the next, or between family members. The assets are all held in “trust”, and the transfers may be as little or as much as needed to avoid triggering a big “death tax” assessment.
A million dollars spread over ten years is $100,000 per year, which if extended as a gift, still cimes as less of a bite than having to sell all the assets to make one lump sum payment to the IRS.
But it is still a denial of “pursuit of happiness”.