Inheritance taxes, used by six states, would encourage the breakup of large estates if applied nationally. That's because it would confer a tax advantage to including more heirs in a will, particularly those in lower tax brackets. Currently (and theoretically, given the loopholes), Grandpa Joe's $100 million estate would be taxed at his death, and it would pay the same amount of tax no matter how many heirs he has, or what their income levels are. But under Batchelder's proposal, Grandpa Joe could give just under $2 million to 50 people, and none of them would pay the tax.
The U.S.'s estate tax dates to 1916, and its goal then was to reduce inequality. At the time, accumulations of wealth by industrial barons were seen as un-American. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1935 that "inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals of the generation which established our government."
Democrats today would agree with that. Now their presidential candidates just have to propose a more equitable and effective plan to address it.
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