This is nice: The Wall Street Journal is going to stop using the term "death tax" to describe the estate tax, a tax on inheritance: ...the term...
...the term death tax has become too politicized to be of any use except in editorials. Bury it.... We should generally be alert to politically charged terms, as both sides in disputes increasingly use language tilted to their causes.Indeed. Calling it a "death tax" makes it sound like a tax levied on people for dying, which it isn't. If you die and leave your estate to a spouse or a charitable organization, the tax probably won't apply. (A quick search suggests that The New York Times only uses "death tax" in quotation marks.)And, as they note, the terms "pro-life" and "pro-choice" are also slanted. People who want abortion rights aren't pro-death and people who think abortion amounts to infanticide aren't against choice, per se. The Journal will use "abortion rights advocate" and "antiabortion advocate" instead.Kudos to them for switching to terms that don't cloud the issues.
Share on Facebook
