The tax levied on estates of wealthier Americans upon death brings in a relatively small amount of money — about $13.2 billion in 2019, less than one one-hundredth of what was raised through individual income taxes ($1.7 trillion). But the estate tax fuels passions on both sides of America’s political divide at a level far in excess of the dollar figures. President Joe Biden wants to give more teeth to the tax on multimillion-dollar estates and is expected to propose raising the rate while cutting the amount that wealthy families can pass on to heirs tax-free by more than half.
Allyson Versprille | Bloomberg