> But wasn't the "society" paid off by all the "living taxes" before the person died?
Governments look holistically at their tax revenue. If there is an inheritance tax, and they expect to get a certain amount of revenue from it, then other taxes will be lower to compensate.
And vice versa: if an inheritance tax is producing revenue, eliminating it will result in higher taxes elsewhere. This is one reason such a tax continues to exist. Inheritance taxes tend to have very high exclusions so most people don’t pay them. And getting rid of them looks like charging everyone else more in order to lower taxes on the rich.
Some would say: governments look holistically at it - if there is a way to get away with extracting more taxes, they will.
With that said, I'd like to say that I enjoy living in Norway and I enjoy our tax model and the health care and education system it funds.
I just wish there was as much scrutiny on how the funds are used and as much creativity on getting as much as possible for them as there is scrutiny on how much each of us should pay and creativity around how to tax us more.
I like how you suggest that other taxes will be lower to compensate. That hasn't been my experience in general. I'm sure it's happened occasionally but I don't think it's the rule.