A controversial issue is the incentives created by an estate tax. Suppose that an individual is motivated to work hard during his lifetime to leave a large estate for his children. The presence of an estate tax might discourage his work effort. On the other hand, with an estate tax, a greater amount of wealth has to be accumulated to leave a given after-tax bequest, so the tax bequest, so the tax might induce the individual to work harder to maintain the net value of his estate. Consequently, the effect of an estate tax on a donor’s work effort is logically indeterminate. Similarly, one cannot predict how the tax will affect the mount of saving. There is currently very little in the way of empirical evidence on these incentive issues.