The federal estate tax has changed almost every year since 2001 as the effective exclusion has climbed from $675,000 that year to $3.5 million in 2009 and the maximum rate has fallen from 55 percent to 45 percent. In 2010, the tax disappears entirely, only to return in 2011 with a $1 million exemption and a 55 percent top tax rate.
Tables show historical parameters and statistics, projected revenues and returns, and distributions of tax under current law and selected proposals to change the estate tax.
| Historical Statistics |
| Number of Returns and Percent Taxable | | Returns as a Percentage of Deaths |
| | | |
| Exemption and Top Tax Rate | | Tax Rate Schedule | | Estate Taxes by State |
| | | | | |
| Summary Tables |
| Revenue Impact | | Returns and Liability |
| | | |
| Distributional Tables |
| By Gross Estate Level |
| Current Law |
| | | |
| Various Proposals |
| 2011 Law Extended | 2009 Law Extended | 2009 Law Extended |
| $5M Exemption (Indexed) and 35% Rate | $3.5M Exemption (Indexed) and 45% Rate | $3.5M Exemption (Unindexed) and 45% Rate |
| | | |
| By Gross Estate Percentiles |
| Current Law | Current Law and 2011 Law Extended | 2009 Law Extended both Indexed and Unindexed |
| | | |
| 2008 Reform Proposals |
| |
| Distributional Effects of Individual Proposals by Size of Gross Estate |
| | | | |
| | | |
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