Very wealthy Americans have many ways to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. However, the average effective tax rate is 17% for those 1 out of 700 deaths that result in paying an estate tax. The estate tax is graduated - like the income tax - with a top rate of 40%. Tax loopholes let many wealthy families greatly reduce what they pay or pay no taxes at all. Most families with estates worth $10.6 million or more do careful planning to avoid the tax. Families with an estate worth less than those amounts pay nothing. Who pays the estate tax and how much do they pay?Ĭurrently, the tax is assessed only on estates with assets exceeding $5.3 million ($10.6 million per married couple). But the truth is the vast majority of deaths - 99.9% - will not trigger estate taxes in 2014. Conservatives call it the “death tax” in order to mislead people to believe that all Americans pay the tax. It was created nearly 100 years ago to raise revenue from those with the greatest ability to pay, encourage charitable giving and put a brake on the concentration of wealth and power. The federal estate tax, also known as the inheritance tax, is primarily paid by the estates of multi-millionaires and billionaires before their assets are passed to their heirs. It would give huge tax breaks to those who need them the least - the wealthiest Americans. Repealing the estate tax would blow a $225 billion hole in the federal budget over 10 years.We need a strong estate tax to help restore the promise of America to everyone. The rest of us are barely keeping our heads above water. The richest Americans are amassing huge fortunes, passing them to their heirs and creating a new aristocracy.It is not a tax on small businesses and family farmers - just 20 of them across the country pay U.S. A strong estate tax is needed to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share.Only 1 estate out of every 700 deaths pays any estate tax. An estate needs to be worth more than $5 million before a dime of it gets taxed. The estate tax is paid by billionaires and millionaires - it is not a tax on the middle class.Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has exploited a loophole that allowed him to pass $8 billion to family members and avoid $2.8 billion in estate taxes.This could increase by tens of billions in the future. The Walton family - which owns half of Walmart - has exploited a loophole in the estate tax to avoid paying $3 billion in estate taxes.This is more than the $164 billion 10-year shortfall in the highway and mass transit trust funds. The estate tax will raise $225 billion over the next 10 years.Only 20 small business and family farm estates nationwide will owe any estate tax in 2013.Even billionaires pay nothing on the first $5.3 million left to their heirs. The estate tax is only paid on assets greater than $5.3 million per individual ($10.6 million per couple).While the top estate tax rate is 40%, the average tax rate paid is just 17%.The vast majority of estates - 99.9% - do not pay federal estate taxes. Only 1 out of every 700 deaths results in paying the federal estate tax today.The estate tax raised $8.5 billion in 2012 - less than 1% of the $1.2 trillion inherited that year.

States with inheritance tax