Tax Policy Experts Tell History Of Estate Taxes

Internal Revenue Service staffers explain how the United States has been handling death taxes since 1862 in the latest IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin.

In 1864, for example, the cost of the Civil War led the federal government to impose a tax of 1% on property left to ancestors and lineal descendants, a rate of 2% on property left to siblings, and a rate of 6% on property left to charities and unrelated individuals.