In the past few weeks the Finance Ministry, as Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula described it, has been trying to "pry it open", indicating how delicate the exercise is. But his lieutenants are talking in much more revealing detail these days.

Will it end up being another classic case of an issue every government talks about but none ever wants to seriously enforce?

The "death-tax package" will, according to one official close to the minister, include a tax on the transfer of stocks and various financial derivatives by parents to their children or relatives. The draft being discussed surveys all the possible options of inheritance tax, estate tax or "death duty".

Few Thais are familiar with this last twist of the taxman's knife, but it's high time we made this issue a point of hot debate if we are to keep our politicians and their cronies in political, bureaucratic and business circles honest.

An estate tax is a levy on the personal representatives of the deceased. It is imposed on the total value of a person's estate when that person dies. It has been characterised as a tax on the right to transmit the property.

Inheritance tax, on the other hand, makes the beneficiaries of the estate pay. It is imposed on the property that is passed to an heir. It is usually progressive and is determined by the amount of property received by the beneficiary as well as by his or her relationship to the deceased. In other words, it is a tax on the right to receive the property.

Simply put, an estate tax is based on the value of all property left, whereas an inheritance tax is based on the amount that an heir receives.

In view of the series of scandals of politicians transferring their personal wealth to their children and even servants and drivers to avoid the scrutiny of independent anti-corruption agencies, the concept of a "gift tax" should also be raised. Also known as "capital transfer tax", this new tax on "gifts" should become a major part of the tax overhaul, as part of the country's much-heralded political reform that should be on the way once the new constitution-drafting committee is formed in the next few weeks.

Corrupt politicians are fond of offering all kinds of unconventional "gifts" to their conspirators and their relatives to avoid being caught. A gift tax should make them think twice before resorting to this trick.

What is a gift tax? It's a tax on the transfer of property by one individual to another while receiving nothing, or less than full value, in return. In some countries where this tax is imposed, it applies to whether the donor intends the transfer to be a gift or not. In other words, if a politician offers a huge portfolio of stocks to his servant for some inexplicable reason, then he will be required to pay a tax on that. This is one way to put a higher price on corruption.

Experts will tell you that the gift tax applies to the transfer of a gift of any property. You make a gift if you give property (including money), or the use of income from property, without expecting to receive something of at least equal value in return.

In the case of the transfer of huge amounts of stocks in an offshore account from a politician to his son and daughter (who have come of legal age) at one-baht apiece while the market price was 40 times higher, the "gift tax" would apply because - according to at least one international benchmark (that of the US Internal Revenue Service) - if you sell something at less than its full value, or if you make an interest-free or reduced-interest loan, you may be making a gift.

Inheritance, estate and gift taxes don't necessarily boost the government's coffers as such. But if effectively enforced, they serve as deterrents against abuse of power and corruption at high levels.

Once these checks on the transfer of wealth are in place, the wealthy and powerful may decide to direct their property, ill-gotten or otherwise, to other less opaque channels.

If this interim, non-partisan government - that has vowed to do everything necessary to move this country ahead in an equitable way - can't muster enough political will to move the new inheritance tax through the appointed national assembly, which is supposed to be void of conflicts of interest, then you can be sure that a fully politicised parliament after the next election won't touch it with a 10-foot pole.

Suthichai Yoon