Policy Analysis of Estate Tax Exemption Reform Related to Conservation of Timber Resources in USA

Estate taxes play an important role in the US tax system. Because they are paid only on estates left by the less-than-two percent of decedents with the greatest wealth, these taxes add progressivity to federal and state tax systems. In addition, the estate tax compensates in part for a major gap in the taxation of capital gain income. The gain in the value of assets held until death is not subject to the capital gains tax; the only way such gains are subject to tax at all is through the estate tax.