It's not quite as simple as the kids just keeping the company and taking dividends until the money is gone. Without any planning that scenario results in double, and sometimes triple, tax.  Too hard to explain here but the government essentially gets all the inheritance.  However there are strategies that can be implemented to fix that problem and leave just the first tax you refer to. The governments proposals kill that planning even for people who died before July 18 and for whom the CRA had already given written approval.   This is the kind of stuff Morneau and Trudeau, and the public they are misleading, don't understand. And they won't accept help.