As crazy as it may seem, there is actually such a thing as a “death tax,” and it’s exactly what it sounds like: the government does, in a manner of speaking, charge you money for dying. But since you, being deceased, are obviously not in a position to make any payments, it’s your heirs who have to take care of death taxes, also known as inheritance tax and estate tax.
Inheritance tax is the tax you have to pay in exchange for inheriting money in someone’s will; estate tax is the same principle applied to property instead of money. While these taxes are often staggeringly high – they’re currently at up to 45% and expected to grow in the years to come – they only apply to extremely high net worth estates (over $3.5 million as of 2009). Inheritance and estate taxes have long been controversial; their supporters argue that inheritors didn’t earn any of these assets themselves and so should have to surrender a big chunk of them to the government, while detractors say that people work hard to earn money with the expectation that it’ll be there to make their children’s lives easier. Some people attempt to set up complicated networks of trusts in order to avoid these taxes, but it isn’t easy to do so. The Bush administration attempted, unsuccessfully, to phase out inheritance and estate taxes, but for the present it seems that, much like death, they’re simply a fact of life.
It’s important to know, though, that the tax laws surrounding death can vary somewhat from state to state. Make sure to check with your local tax authority before dying.