Key Points
Tax cuts and higher life expectancy have reduced estate tax revenues over the last two decades, outweighing revenue gains from an older population and strong asset price gains.
Growing levels of tax avoidance and/or evasion likely contributed to falling estate tax revenues over this period.
Under a counterfactual scenario where the 2000 tax code was in effect for tax year 2019, the estate tax would have generated 9 times as much tax liability ($85B counterfactual vs $9B actual) and 100 times as many taxable estates (127,000 counterfactual vs 1,275 actual).
Decomposing the Decline in Estate Tax Liability Since 2000
The federal estate tax, which assesses a tax on the value of assets transferred at death, has diminished in scope over the last two decades. Major tax legislation enacted in 2001 and in 2017 cut estate tax revenue, primarily by limiting the number of estates subject to the tax. Other changes in the US economy during this period should have increased estate tax liability. These factors include population aging, more household saving driven by income growth, and rising asset prices.
Still, as shown in Figure 1, the estate tax liability as a share of GDP fell to less than one quarter of its 2001 level following the 2017 tax act. Taxable estates at death (as a share of total deaths) fell almost 98 percent from the 2001 level. In filing year 2001, nearly 52,000 estates owed a total of $23.5 billion in taxes. Twenty years later, just under 1,300 taxable estates were taxable, owing a collective $9.3 billion.
What key factors explain the decline in estate tax revenue? How much additional revenue would the estate tax raise if the estate tax cuts from the last twenty years were never enacted? How many more estates would be taxed? We answer these questions by decomposing the observed change in estate taxes into demographic, economic, and tax-related factors.
Estate tax law has undergone several significant changes since 2000. The exemption (the amount of wealth transfers above which tax applies) was raised by gradual increments throughout the 2000s and then by larger steps in 2012 and in 2017. This growth limited the number of estates subject to tax. The top estate tax rate was also lowered during this time period.
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGGTRA) scheduled a series of exemption increases, starting at $675,000 in 2001 and ending at $3.5 million in 2009 before temporarily repealing the tax entirely in 2010.1 In addition, the top estate tax rate was lowered from 45 to 35 percent. EGGTRA’s provisions were written with a “sunset clause” such that, in 2011, the estate tax would be re-introduced at its 2001 law parameters.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012 made permanent the $5.12 million exemption for 2012 and indexed it to inflation thereafter. ATRA also raised the top tax rate to 40 percent beginning in 2013. This increase in the top tax rate was the only revenue-raising change to the exemption or rate of the estate tax law over this period.
The permanent changes put in place by ATRA were temporarily modified under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017. For tax years 2018 through 2025, the exemption was doubled to $11.4 million. After 2025, the exemption threshold reverts to the inflation-adjusted amount defined by ATRA (PWBM projects the value will be roughly $7 million).
Structural forces in the economy affect tax revenues even when tax law is unchanged. For example, lower unemployment bolsters payroll tax revenues, inflation raises the nominal value of receipts, and real economic growth raises income taxes by pushing households into higher brackets.
The estate tax is unique in its sensitivity to certain nontax factors. First, it depends directly on the number of deaths, which in turn depends on the age distribution of the population. Second, unlike most federal taxes in the US, the base of the estate tax is wealth rather than income. Wealth is more volatile than income due to the dynamic nature of financial markets.
We model the change in the estate tax (both liability and the number of taxable estate tax returns) as a function of changes in the following factors:
- Demographic changes. Relative to 2000, the population is larger and older. Advances in public health and medicine have led to longer average lifespans.
- Economic changes. Estate wealth generally grows with overall changes in asset prices, which we further decompose into inflationary gains and real price revaluations. Household saving—the amount households have after earning income, paying taxes, and spending on consumption—also affects wealth held at death. Lastly, inequality as measured by wealth shares has increased since 2000.
- Tax-related changes. As discussed above, several rounds of tax legislation have cut effective estate tax rates since 2000. Sophisticated techniques to avoid estate taxes grew in popularity during this period, coinciding with a shrinking real IRS budget. Together, these factors may have reduced the amount of wealth subject to taxation.
- Unexplained factors. Any remaining change in estate taxes since 2000 not explained by the above factors is considered “unexplained”, represented as a residual.
The total effect on estate tax revenue becomes the aggregation of the above factors: (1A) Population growth, (1B) population aging, (1C) improved longevity, (2A) inflation, (2B) real asset price growth, (2C) real accumulation of assets, (2D) wealth concentration, (3A) tax cuts, (3B) tax planning, and (4) unexplained changes.
We measure the contribution of each factor by performing a shift-share analysis, a type of statistical exercise that isolates the impact of different forces causing a change to a variable over time. The model combines survey microdata on demographic characteristics and wealth, demographic-specific mortality rates from the CDC, financial flows data from the Federal Reserve, and estate tax data from the IRS to simulate estate tax microdata for tax years 2000-2019. We then measure the impact of a given factor by running the simulation and holding that sub-factor constant at its 2000 level. Refer to the Methodological Appendix below for further details.
Figure 3 shows how much each factor contributed to (or subtracted from) the change in the estate tax since filing year 2001, both for liability and the number of taxable estates. Bars above zero represent factors that boosted estate tax liability and number of taxable estates, while bars below zero indicate factors that reduced estate tax liability and number of taxable estates. The results are stacked; that is, effects of a given factor are evaluated against a baseline that includes the effects of all factors listed above it in the stacking order. In this way, the contributions of all factors sum to the total change since filing year 2001.
The US population has grown larger and older since 2000 (factors 1A and 1B, respectively). These changes mechanically generate more taxable estates, all else equal. Figure 3 shows these factors were a steady, if relatively minor, boost to the federal estate tax.
On the other hand life expectancy has risen, leading to fewer deaths and thus lower estate tax revenue. Furthermore, the decline in mortality risk has been concentrated among those with more economic and social resources—the type of people most likely to be subject to the estate tax. Research based on administrative data shows that higher-income individuals are less likely to die at any age than lower-income individuals, and that this effect increased over the period from 2001 to 2014. Similarly, prior PWBM analyses have demonstrated a growing longevity premium to education. We rely on this research to estimate a trend in the reduction of mortality from higher income. We then simulate consequences from this longevity effect on estate taxes by holding mortality rates fixed at 2000 levels; see the Methodological Appendix for further detail.
The base of the estate tax is wealth held at time of death. Wealth can be decomposed into the number of assets that have been accumulated and their current market price.
Asset price changes can further be decomposed into inflationary and real components. Figure 3 shows that consumer price inflation (factor 2A), as measured by the PCE price deflator, was a steady boon for estate taxes throughout the period. Inflation averaged 1.9 percent from 2000 through 2019, falling below 0 just once and never reaching 3 percent. This effect increased nominal estate tax liability.
On the other hand, real asset revaluations (factor 2B) played a larger and higher-variance role. We calculate asset price changes as the inflation-adjusted change in the market value of household sector assets net of acquisitions; see the Methodological Appendix for details. Figure 3 shows how a correction in the stock market weighed on the estate tax after the dot-com bubble. Similarly, asset prices—most notably home prices—plummeted during the Great Financial Crisis, wiping out the cumulative positive contributions to the estate tax from the prior decade. The economic recovery and falling interest rates resulted in large capital gains across all asset classes in the 2010s, generating more estate tax liability and pushing more estates into taxable status.
During the period studied, real household market incomes and government deficits grew, each of which increases household sector saving all else equal. We calculate households’ real accumulation of assets (factor 2C) as the residual change in wealth after accounting for inflation and real asset price revaluations. Figure 3 shows that household saving added to estate tax revenues.
Though the precise magnitude of wealth concentration (factor 2D) is debated, scholars agree that the distribution of wealth has grown more unequal over the previous two decades. The triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, the main data source for our simulation, shows that the share of wealth held by the bottom 90 percent of households fell from 30 percent in 2001 to 24 percent in 2019. At the same time, the share of wealth held by the top 1 percent rose 5 percentage points (from 32 to 37 percent).
Measured against a baseline where the 2000 tax code was in place (as in Figure 3 where tax changes are stacked), wealth concentration reduced the number of taxable estates—the result of lower wealth for those estates on the margin of the exemption. When measured against an actual-law baseline (not pictured in Figure 3), the result flips: higher average net worth for those in the top 1 percent pushed some estates over the higher exemption thresholds of the 2010s. In either case, trends in inequality over this period increased estate tax revenues, due to the progressive rate structure of the estate tax and the increased number of very wealthy estates.
Tax “avoidance” refers to a broad set of legal means through which taxpayers reduce their tax bill. In the context of the estate tax, avoidance includes strategic charitable giving and using trusts to minimize the taxable value of asset transfers. In contrast, tax “evasion” refers to illegal noncompliance activity like underreporting wealth on an estate tax return.
There is reason to believe that both avoidance and evasion have played a role in falling estate tax revenues since 2000. In 1990, changes were made to provisions in grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT) law, which created a mechanism for sheltering large unrealized gains on assets from gift and estate tax purposes.2 The use of GRATs has grown more popular since courts affirmed the vehicle’s legal standing in 2000. One estimate suggests this form of tax planning has cost the federal government over $100 billion in forgone revenue.
A potential source of evasion is the underreporting of gifts. Some evidence suggests that over 80 percent of returns filed for gifts of over $1 million understated the true value of the gift. The IRS has limited capacity to audit gift tax returns. This capacity was further constrained in 1997 with passage of the Taxpayer Relief Act (1997), which gives the IRS just three years to audit a gift tax return or accept it as filed. Well-known audit capacity limitations at the IRS encourage taxpayers to understate gifts on returns. This underreporting is likely further encouraged by the decline in real IRS funding since 2010. Despite increased workload (measured by returns filed), total staffing has declined over the past decade, and the audit rate on total returns has declined by 58 percent since 2010.
Tax avoidance and evasion are not easily observable and must be estimated. One approach is to compare observed gross estate on tax returns with the amount expected given the distribution of assets and mortality rates.3 If wealth and the demographic attributes associated with mortality are measured consistently over time, a falling ratio of actual gross estate to expected gross estate indicates an increase in avoidance and/or evasion. Changes in the composition of estate tax returns over time, due to repeated increases in the exemption, present a practical complication for measurement because lower-value estate groups tend to have lower ratios. A regression that controls for estate composition reveals a statistically significant upward trend in avoidance and/or evasion, which we use to generate counterfactual scenarios where avoidance and evasion are held fixed at filing year 2001 levels (factor 3A). Figure 4 visualizes this trend by plotting the ratio of actual gross estate to expected gross estate and restricting the data to estates worth at least $5M through filing year 2018—a sample without selection bias.
Our simulations suggest that tax planning acted as a modest drag on estate tax revenues over the last two decades. The quantitative magnitude of this estimate is more uncertain than that of other factors in this analysis. Interpreting the mismatch between actual and expected gross estate as avoidance requires strong assumptions about the time-consistency of measurement error. If, for example, SCF respondents were more likely to overreport wealth in 2019 than in 2000, then the impact of avoidance is overstated. Nonetheless, we believe these assumptions are sensible for the exercise at hand, and that the estimates are consistent with the qualitative record.
Changes in tax law (factor 3B) played a much larger, and more certain, role in reducing estate tax liability and the number of taxable estates since tax year 2000. Figure 3 shows how changes in tax law contributed increasingly negatively to estate tax revenues over the period.
There remains a small difference between the sum of each factor’s contribution and the actual change in estate tax liability (and taxable returns) since 2000. This residual may be attributable to how the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) microdata differentially interacts with modeling factors over time. The residual pattern appears correlated with SCF survey year, suggesting that triennial updates to the distributional content of our microdata are driving some of the discrepancy.
A related but distinct question is: holding all else equal, how much larger would the estate tax be if the last 20 years of tax cuts never happened? Figure 5 plots estimated levels of estate tax liability and the number of taxable estates under a counterfactual scenario where estate tax parameters from 2000 remained in place through tax year 2019. We estimate that the number of taxable estates would have more-than-doubled over this period rather than the actual 98 percent decline. We estimate that the foregone nominal liability totals $649B over this period (roughly 0.2 percent of cumulative GDP).
This section provides details on data sources and methodology for the calculations presented in this brief.
Our basic unit of analysis is simulated person-level wealth held at death. To construct this data, we begin with the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) Bulletin microdata. The SCF is a triennial survey of households and contains data on the composition of households’ wealth holdings. We aggregate household assets into two categories: financial and nonfinancial assets. To get person-level data, we split married households by distributing 50 percent of total assets to the secondary spouse, the age of whom is assumed to be the same as that of the head.
Because the survey is only conducted every three years and our analysis requires annual data, we impute intra-year data. For each survey year at time , we create copies of the dataset for years and . Each person has a sample weight and is categorized into a demographic group based on age and gender. Annualized population growth rates over the triennial period are calculated for a particular demographic group as:
and are applied to for each member of that group in years and . We apply an identical calculation for the growth in average assets values by demographic group between survey years. The result is annual microdata.
Next, we benchmark asset values to those of the Financial Accounts (FA). (This benchmark is necessary because we use the FA data to decompose changes in total assets into saving and revaluations; see the section below for more detail.) Two steps are required to reconcile definitional scope across these data sources. First, we conform asset classification: consumer durables are removed from both sources; private business ownership is reclassified from nonfinancial to financial in the SCF; and defined benefit wealth is removed from the FA. Second, we remove the nonprofit sector from FA data. Asset values in our microdata are then scaled to match annual aggregates in the FA. The result is person-level annual microdata.
The next step in constructing estate microdata is to simulate death by assigning each record a probability of death and then multiplying it by sample weight. The starting point for mortality risk calculations is Centers for Disease Control (CDC) death records. We calculate the number of deaths by age, gender, and marital status and divide by respective population counts from the Current Population Survey (CPS), generating demographic-dependent mortality rates. Applying these mortality rates to our data, however, would overstate estate tax liability because richer people face lower mortality risk all else equal.
To account for an income premium in longevity, we draw on Online Data Table 16 from Chetty et al (2016) which breaks out mortality risk by age, gender, and income percentile (conditional on age and gender) for the years 2000-2014. We calculate a relative mortality advantage for each unconditional income group as:
where is mortality rate, is age, is gender, is unconditional income percentile, and is year. One complication is that our data requires a wealth-based mortality advantage while the source data is based on income, not wealth. This issue is in part mitigated by the fact that, in the Chetty et al (2016) data, for people aged 62 and older, income is defined as income at age 61 (because after retirement income becomes a weaker proxy for economic advantage). We assume that pre-retirement income percentile is a suitable proxy for wealth percentile when assigning mortality advantage.
One finding of that paper is that the mortality advantage of income is growing over time. Capturing this trend is important for our purposes: if we use a constant average of mortality advantage over the period, then the gap between actual gross estate and expected gross estate will be growing over time, falsely suggesting that avoidance and/or evasion are growing (see below for more detail.) We therefore estimate the trend using the following functional form:
such that the effect of income varies over time, which itself is mediated by gender. The effect of age on mortality advantage is confirmed to be nonlinear: income confers a larger advantage at younger ages, reflecting diminishing marginal returns to costly health interventions as age increases.
We fit values for mortality advantage by age, gender, income, and year and then apply them to the CDC-based demographic-specific mortality rates. The resulting mortality rates are used to generate the dataset of expected estates.
The next step is to calculate estate tax liability. The IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) division offers annual aggregate data tables on estate tax variables by gross estate group and filing year. Critically, for each variable, the tables present dollar amounts as well as the number of returns with nonzero values. The latter allows us to determine the number of taxable estates, a key target in our analysis.
For our purposes the tables contain three key variables: gross estate (total assets of estates filing tax returns), taxable estate (the amount of wealth subject to tax after deductions, including liabilities and charitable gifts); and estate tax paid. For each gross estate group and year, we estimate tax parameters , , and in the following set of equations relating SOI data to our microdata:
where is the number of returns (total and taxable), is average estate value (gross vs taxable), is total estate tax liability; is a record’s death weight (its sample weight times its mortality rate ) and is a record’s asset holdings. The parameters and , the taxable income rate and the effective estate tax rate respectively, can be interpreted as policy parameters. Their values largely reflect estate tax law including the exemption, rates, and allowable deductions. The parameter , on the other hand, is a scaling factor that conforms gross estate in our calculations to the amount that actually appears on tax returns. It captures two factors. First, it includes any modeling error in our prediction of wealth at death which might arise from mismeasured wealth, inaccurate mortality risk, and more. Second, it captures the effect of avoidance and evasion of estate taxes. If the first factor is negligible, which we assume, then can be interpreted as the effect of tax planning. Measurement error uncorrelated with time does not affect our estimates because the analysis focuses only on changes in the estate tax over time. Only if measurement error is changing over time will we introduce bias into the avoidance/evasion estimates.
Applying these tax parameters to our data gives us, by construction, totals for estate tax liability. The value of this type of parameterization is that it allows to simulate counterfactual scenarios for tax planning and tax policy, explained below.
To determine the extent to which each factor can explain the decline in estate taxes since 2000, we run counterfactual tax calculations under alternative model inputs. We begin by setting all factor parameters to their 2000 level. Then, one by one, we allow the factor's parameters to vary as they actually did over the period, holding every other change up until this factor constant. That is, factors are “stacked” on one another. The resulting difference between estate taxes when this factor is included versus excluded, in each year, measures the marginal impact of that factor.4 The difference between the actual change since 2000 and the sum of marginal factor effects is the unexplained variation.
What does it mean to set a factor to its 2000 level? The implementation varies by factor and is described below.
(1A) Population growth. Sample weights are deflated by the ratio of total population in year to population in 2000.
(1B) Population aging. We calculate each age’s share of the population in year and in 2000. Sample weights are deflated by the ratio of those shares.
(1C) Improved longevity. Mortality rates are set to their 2000 values (by age, gender, marital status, and income group).
(2A) Inflation. Asset values are deflated by the PCE price deflator.
(2B) Real asset price growth. Following Robbins (2018), we use FA data to measure asset price revaluations as the residual after subtracting net acquisitions from the change in the stock of assets. The calculation is done separately for financial and nonfinancial assets in the household and nonprofit sector. The cumulative growth in asset prices through year is indexed to 2000, which we then deflate by PCE price deflator. This index is used to deflate asset prices in counterfactual scenarios.
(2C) Real accumulation of assets. We hold all aforementioned factors at 2000 levels, then calculate the difference between actual gross estate. This approach measures the portion of inflation-adjusted savings accumulation not explained by demographic factors. We estimate the trend in savings through year , index to 2000, and use this index to deflate asset prices in counterfactual scenarios.
(2D) Wealth concentration. Records are assigned to asset percentile groups by year. We calculate each asset group’s share of total assets in year and in 2000. Sample weights are deflated by the ratio of those shares.
(3A) Tax cuts. Tax parameters and are set to their 2000 levels.
(3B) Tax planning. We estimate the following equation:
The parameter estimates suggest richer estates engage in more avoidance/evasion; avoidance/evasion has been growing over time; and the trend in avoidance/evasion is less pronounced for richer estates (perhaps due to higher initial levels). We fit values of for each year and gross estate group, index to 2000, and deflate actual values of by this value in counterfactual scenarios.
This analysis was prepared by John Ricco and Victoria Osorio under the direction of Richard Prisinzano. Alexander Arnon provided helpful feedback. Prepared for the website by Mariko Paulson.
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While no federal estate tax applied to deaths in 2010, heirs of estates in this calendar year did not qualify for a full step-up in basis on their assets. Estates electing not to pay any estate tax could only receive a step up of up to $1.3 million. Those choosing step-up basis could opt in to paying the 2011 estate tax law. ↩
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A GRAT is an irrevocable trust, an investment entity created to transfer assets to an heir after it has paid out a series of annuitized payments back to the grantor. The loophole exists because the present value of the annuity stream is calculated using the rate on U.S. Treasuries. If the assets in the trust grow faster than the rate on the UST, the gain on this asset stream is passed to the heir tax-free. ↩
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Note that this measure does not capture every avoidance channel. For example, charitable giving is a deduction from gross estate and is independent of any relationship between expected gross estate and actual gross estate. ↩
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Like all stacking analyses, the order in which factors are analyzed will affect the measured effect size. ↩
Filing year Liability (% of GDP) Taxable estates (% of deaths) 2001 0.0023 0.0215 2002 0.0020 0.0186 2003 0.0019 0.0136 2004 0.0019 0.0128 2005 0.0018 0.0084 2006 0.0019 0.0093 2007 0.0016 0.0072 2008 0.0017 0.0071 2009 0.0014 0.0059 2010 0.0009 0.0027 2011 0.0002 0.0006 2012 0.0005 0.0015 2013 0.0008 0.0018 2014 0.0010 0.0020 2015 0.0010 0.0019 2016 0.0010 0.0019 2017 0.0011 0.0019 2018 0.0010 0.0019 2019 0.0006 0.0009 2020 0.0004 0.0004
Tax year Exemption Rate 2000 0.675 0.55 2001 0.675 0.55 2002 1 0.5 2003 1 0.49 2004 1.5 0.48 2005 1.5 0.47 2006 2 0.46 2007 2 0.45 2008 2 0.45 2009 3.5 0.45 2010 2011 5 0.35 2012 5.12 0.35 2013 5.25 0.4 2014 5.34 0.4 2015 5.43 0.4 2016 5.45 0.4 2017 5.49 0.4 2018 11.18 0.4 2019 11.4 0.4
Filing year Factor Variable Contribution to change since 2000 Total change since 2000 2001 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 0 2001 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2001 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 0 2002 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.240838007 -2.137789974 2002 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 0 -2.137789974 2002 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.740098976 -2.137789974 2002 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.556610733 -2.137789974 2002 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.613914577 -2.137789974 2002 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.326013201 -2.137789974 2002 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.388392393 -2.137789974 2002 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.070935574 -2.137789974 2002 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.126346213 -2.137789974 2002 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.678435818 -2.137789974 2002 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.517938552 -6.743756513 2002 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0 -6.743756513 2002 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -1.603218641 -6.743756513 2002 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.200164714 -6.743756513 2002 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.340683405 -6.743756513 2002 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.325187307 -6.743756513 2002 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.069053443 -6.743756513 2002 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.756529359 -6.743756513 2002 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.243631653 -6.743756513 2002 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.226069415 -6.743756513 2003 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.467519446 -2.736710647 2003 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.131932835 -2.736710647 2003 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.557670474 -2.736710647 2003 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.098386363 -2.736710647 2003 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.868344073 -2.736710647 2003 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.440491004 -2.736710647 2003 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.814625889 -2.736710647 2003 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.851578965 -2.736710647 2003 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -2.099418268 -2.736710647 2003 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.613439443 -2.736710647 2003 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 1.047919931 -18.46559911 2003 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.970982395 -18.46559911 2003 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -4.024108295 -18.46559911 2003 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.152345616 -18.46559911 2003 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.554754277 -18.46559911 2003 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.349269516 -18.46559911 2003 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.004350885 -18.46559911 2003 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -14.1129979 -18.46559911 2003 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -4.570750118 -18.46559911 2003 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.280844898 -18.46559911 2004 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.683830426 -1.919746828 2004 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.465764484 -1.919746828 2004 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -2.741811804 -1.919746828 2004 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.962771511 -1.919746828 2004 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.473720935 -1.919746828 2004 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.064655989 -1.919746828 2004 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.806474513 -1.919746828 2004 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.476218089 -1.919746828 2004 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.29548895 -1.919746828 2004 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.749503184 -1.919746828 2004 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 1.555536175 -20.48583256 2004 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.400052216 -20.48583256 2004 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -6.416459752 -20.48583256 2004 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 4.065539776 -20.48583256 2004 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.233714293 -20.48583256 2004 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.6881939 -20.48583256 2004 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.289918941 -20.48583256 2004 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -28.71635278 -20.48583256 2004 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -6.980294101 -20.48583256 2004 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.394318772 -20.48583256 2005 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.917249987 -1.860107866 2005 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.779115007 -1.860107866 2005 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.129573281 -1.860107866 2005 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.952197094 -1.860107866 2005 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.344289541 -1.860107866 2005 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.885376691 -1.860107866 2005 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.648806259 -1.860107866 2005 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -10.11313813 -1.860107866 2005 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.9276349 -1.860107866 2005 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.783203862 -1.860107866 2005 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.26140815 -31.55786159 2005 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.721840232 -31.55786159 2005 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -6.693141046 -31.55786159 2005 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.413423364 -31.55786159 2005 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 19.09148185 -31.55786159 2005 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.307864176 -31.55786159 2005 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.23352134 -31.55786159 2005 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -60.08596756 -31.55786159 2005 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -5.300547947 -31.55786159 2005 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.107984207 -31.55786159 2006 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.180601434 1.119788266 2006 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.756824456 1.119788266 2006 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.864813857 1.119788266 2006 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.051724004 1.119788266 2006 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 9.056616279 1.119788266 2006 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.037977201 1.119788266 2006 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.101423822 1.119788266 2006 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -8.623830209 1.119788266 2006 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -5.784199763 1.119788266 2006 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.410312542 1.119788266 2006 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.897214503 -29.02969119 2006 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 10.7329229 -29.02969119 2006 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -9.006891288 -29.02969119 2006 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.57283435 -29.02969119 2006 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 17.2691474 -29.02969119 2006 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.649954031 -29.02969119 2006 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.642705882 -29.02969119 2006 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -63.73564679 -29.02969119 2006 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -8.13606599 -29.02969119 2006 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 9.369545577 -29.02969119 2007 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.374072355 -1.046403508 2007 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.08079067 -1.046403508 2007 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -4.800467248 -1.046403508 2007 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.880085603 -1.046403508 2007 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 10.25234217 -1.046403508 2007 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.599316331 -1.046403508 2007 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) -0.527842499 -1.046403508 2007 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -12.15292521 -1.046403508 2007 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -6.123989743 -1.046403508 2007 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.372214064 -1.046403508 2007 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.153073064 -34.40718106 2007 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.967580787 -34.40718106 2007 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -11.73471039 -34.40718106 2007 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 13.7525631 -34.40718106 2007 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 22.74281296 -34.40718106 2007 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.668197345 -34.40718106 2007 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.912038203 -34.40718106 2007 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -69.27350323 -34.40718106 2007 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -6.784245548 -34.40718106 2007 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.013089041 -34.40718106 2008 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.822182488 1.271515091 2008 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.934421484 1.271515091 2008 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -6.477598174 1.271515091 2008 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.885282861 1.271515091 2008 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 11.8802213 1.271515091 2008 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.284621005 1.271515091 2008 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.195820594 1.271515091 2008 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -13.19279899 1.271515091 2008 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -7.488837144 1.271515091 2008 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.428199673 1.271515091 2008 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.279110339 -34.67929681 2008 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 4.642899064 -34.67929681 2008 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -11.00546859 -34.67929681 2008 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 12.40669515 -34.67929681 2008 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 18.07400069 -34.67929681 2008 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 12.47044614 -34.67929681 2008 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -9.428608792 -34.67929681 2008 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -53.47195969 -34.67929681 2008 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -8.321569583 -34.67929681 2008 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.324841532 -34.67929681 2009 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.195549026 -2.888962038 2009 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.371883195 -2.888962038 2009 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -7.11503276 -2.888962038 2009 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 7.160702572 -2.888962038 2009 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.487210293 -2.888962038 2009 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.390331189 -2.888962038 2009 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.698356627 -2.888962038 2009 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -11.46224775 -2.888962038 2009 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -7.327977775 -2.888962038 2009 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.712263349 -2.888962038 2009 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.978026739 -37.11679766 2009 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 4.967190349 -37.11679766 2009 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -11.87168333 -37.11679766 2009 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 17.13177819 -37.11679766 2009 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.813209294 -37.11679766 2009 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 7.571925112 -37.11679766 2009 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.636299826 -37.11679766 2009 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -49.96347637 -37.11679766 2009 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -8.44104755 -37.11679766 2009 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.666420269 -37.11679766 2010 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.487026271 -10.30989592 2010 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 1.843980695 -10.30989592 2010 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -8.395056565 -10.30989592 2010 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 7.605128866 -10.30989592 2010 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.775831503 -10.30989592 2010 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.131476155 -10.30989592 2010 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.991506704 -10.30989592 2010 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -23.26243351 -10.30989592 2010 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -4.468247684 -10.30989592 2010 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.980891651 -10.30989592 2010 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 4.666780965 -45.09467837 2010 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.774169164 -45.09467837 2010 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -14.6701476 -45.09467837 2010 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 22.95769653 -45.09467837 2010 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 1.172338518 -45.09467837 2010 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.751325843 -45.09467837 2010 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.278017685 -45.09467837 2010 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -69.11710314 -45.09467837 2010 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.013859498 -45.09467837 2010 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 1.662138536 -45.09467837 2011 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.948779005 -20.45621997 2011 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.549539063 -20.45621997 2011 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -9.680543123 -20.45621997 2011 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 10.32967346 -20.45621997 2011 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.037200177 -20.45621997 2011 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.300071385 -20.45621997 2011 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.512400968 -20.45621997 2011 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -43.48057944 -20.45621997 2011 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -1.073387851 -20.45621997 2011 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 7.100626387 -20.45621997 2011 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.114160653 -50.36025194 2011 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 9.34014478 -50.36025194 2011 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -18.5300968 -50.36025194 2011 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 15.53699107 -50.36025194 2011 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 3.670238511 -50.36025194 2011 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 4.375940002 -50.36025194 2011 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.443802363 -50.36025194 2011 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -81.30269664 -50.36025194 2011 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.796167453 -50.36025194 2011 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 11.67503629 -50.36025194 2012 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.142195846 -15.03464735 2012 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.760810159 -15.03464735 2012 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -10.83879115 -15.03464735 2012 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 10.86046593 -15.03464735 2012 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.55083054 -15.03464735 2012 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.981855946 -15.03464735 2012 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.627418635 -15.03464735 2012 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -35.73602234 -15.03464735 2012 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.011107244 -15.03464735 2012 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.627696326 -15.03464735 2012 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.698291373 -48.09686018 2012 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 12.63872797 -48.09686018 2012 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -21.17098033 -48.09686018 2012 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 16.0017356 -48.09686018 2012 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 0.180888099 -48.09686018 2012 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 7.455037231 -48.09686018 2012 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.516480362 -48.09686018 2012 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -79.70160671 -48.09686018 2012 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.134418094 -48.09686018 2012 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 12.45194504 -48.09686018 2013 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.175363631 -10.86218007 2013 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.327887616 -10.86218007 2013 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -11.11811365 -10.86218007 2013 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 11.30360972 -10.86218007 2013 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.593218275 -10.86218007 2013 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.83689162 -10.86218007 2013 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.86110269 -10.86218007 2013 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -33.54229058 -10.86218007 2013 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -5.057103423 -10.86218007 2013 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.757254041 -10.86218007 2013 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.834498709 -47.14444356 2013 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 15.11660967 -47.14444356 2013 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -21.88679638 -47.14444356 2013 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 19.48564718 -47.14444356 2013 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.728036728 -47.14444356 2013 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.854096761 -47.14444356 2013 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.033586347 -47.14444356 2013 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -85.37863415 -47.14444356 2013 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.912616205 -47.14444356 2013 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 9.048300474 -47.14444356 2014 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.391563752 -7.135568503 2014 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.807291735 -7.135568503 2014 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -12.30217123 -7.135568503 2014 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 10.25097764 -7.135568503 2014 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 11.0310898 -7.135568503 2014 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 9.238567811 -7.135568503 2014 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.78868641 -7.135568503 2014 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -35.56432914 -7.135568503 2014 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -6.529050977 -7.135568503 2014 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.751805701 -7.135568503 2014 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.683802178 -46.67021419 2014 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 10.4646266 -46.67021419 2014 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -18.85707412 -46.67021419 2014 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 23.22950396 -46.67021419 2014 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 12.24761961 -46.67021419 2014 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 16.42972702 -46.67021419 2014 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -16.22108027 -46.67021419 2014 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -71.9750144 -46.67021419 2014 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.230719107 -46.67021419 2014 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) -4.441605668 -46.67021419 2015 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.660865395 -6.453912875 2015 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.688928088 -6.453912875 2015 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -13.43030848 -6.453912875 2015 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 12.53660076 -6.453912875 2015 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 13.20928533 -6.453912875 2015 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 11.44024521 -6.453912875 2015 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.376605668 -6.453912875 2015 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -40.50204697 -6.453912875 2015 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -7.482567482 -6.453912875 2015 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.048479602 -6.453912875 2015 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.163225373 -46.91193343 2015 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 11.32280422 -46.91193343 2015 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -20.46957518 -46.91193343 2015 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 24.81638033 -46.91193343 2015 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 21.81759615 -46.91193343 2015 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 21.24538349 -46.91193343 2015 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -22.73897505 -46.91193343 2015 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -81.88463768 -46.91193343 2015 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.459192075 -46.91193343 2015 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) -3.724943012 -46.91193343 2016 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.063610315 -5.230641136 2016 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 8.008546637 -5.230641136 2016 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -14.49980048 -5.230641136 2016 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 13.62160438 -5.230641136 2016 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 13.88731993 -5.230641136 2016 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 12.13124327 -5.230641136 2016 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.118725947 -5.230641136 2016 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -44.28892651 -5.230641136 2016 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -8.541053844 -5.230641136 2016 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.268089218 -5.230641136 2016 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 6.705767444 -46.61515002 2016 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 13.05702112 -46.61515002 2016 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -21.53222058 -46.61515002 2016 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 26.45724632 -46.61515002 2016 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 22.6818308 -46.61515002 2016 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 21.54016503 -46.61515002 2016 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -12.99418168 -46.61515002 2016 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -95.83344127 -46.61515002 2016 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -4.031917463 -46.61515002 2016 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) -2.665419732 -46.61515002 2017 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.220172911 -3.593008294 2017 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 8.033651533 -3.593008294 2017 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -15.19177795 -3.593008294 2017 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 12.12387053 -3.593008294 2017 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 22.75251397 -3.593008294 2017 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 12.70171379 -3.593008294 2017 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.074705992 -3.593008294 2017 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -50.17960753 -3.593008294 2017 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -9.794222298 -3.593008294 2017 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.665970745 -3.593008294 2017 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.595595615 -46.65661741 2017 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 18.50747715 -46.65661741 2017 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -28.41174104 -46.65661741 2017 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 31.96543178 -46.65661741 2017 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 37.84992782 -46.65661741 2017 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 15.55622608 -46.65661741 2017 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -14.55309136 -46.65661741 2017 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -119.3206575 -46.65661741 2017 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -4.475410485 -46.65661741 2017 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 7.629624563 -46.65661741 2018 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.00793312 -3.352795815 2018 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 7.007532387 -3.352795815 2018 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -13.88597925 -3.352795815 2018 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 14.11640829 -3.352795815 2018 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 25.02346939 -3.352795815 2018 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 15.10435428 -3.352795815 2018 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.352738357 -3.352795815 2018 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -52.74512391 -3.352795815 2018 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -11.20770473 -3.352795815 2018 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 2.87357625 -3.352795815 2018 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.731941354 -46.3570958 2018 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 17.67657915 -46.3570958 2018 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -27.29340226 -46.3570958 2018 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 33.43265338 -46.3570958 2018 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 43.7923548 -46.3570958 2018 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 17.18360361 -46.3570958 2018 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -15.41370518 -46.3570958 2018 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -124.9672768 -46.3570958 2018 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -5.188688532 -46.3570958 2018 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 5.688844649 -46.3570958 2019 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.825675118 -10.31615406 2019 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.435093263 -10.31615406 2019 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -13.61376775 -10.31615406 2019 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 14.81319637 -10.31615406 2019 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 20.44273593 -10.31615406 2019 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 14.81406622 -10.31615406 2019 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 4.71367042 -10.31615406 2019 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -56.66333679 -10.31615406 2019 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -5.792612391 -10.31615406 2019 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.70912555 -10.31615406 2019 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.600819167 -49.27176655 2019 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 15.31808719 -49.27176655 2019 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -27.18516949 -49.27176655 2019 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 33.26463043 -49.27176655 2019 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 42.96256585 -49.27176655 2019 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 15.78689409 -49.27176655 2019 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -17.60128477 -49.27176655 2019 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -121.7121798 -49.27176655 2019 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -1.364771876 -49.27176655 2019 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.658642681 -49.27176655 2020 1A. Population growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 3.933455534 -14.20069686 2020 1B. Population aging Estate tax liability (bil $) 5.201173882 -14.20069686 2020 1C. Improved longevity Estate tax liability (bil $) -13.04414637 -14.20069686 2020 2A. Inflation Estate tax liability (bil $) 12.46051707 -14.20069686 2020 2B. Real asset price growth Estate tax liability (bil $) 30.18223246 -14.20069686 2020 2C. Real accumulation of assets Estate tax liability (bil $) 14.80926368 -14.20069686 2020 2D. Wealth concentration Estate tax liability (bil $) 6.900686342 -14.20069686 2020 3A. Tax cuts Estate tax liability (bil $) -71.67197977 -14.20069686 2020 3B. Tax planning Estate tax liability (bil $) -3.524429487 -14.20069686 2020 4. Unexplained changes Estate tax liability (bil $) 0.552529796 -14.20069686 2020 1A. Population growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 8.870363183 -50.57041277 2020 1B. Population aging Number of taxable estates (thousands) 9.968527724 -50.57041277 2020 1C. Improved longevity Number of taxable estates (thousands) -25.38546936 -50.57041277 2020 2A. Inflation Number of taxable estates (thousands) 21.679844 -50.57041277 2020 2B. Real asset price growth Number of taxable estates (thousands) 59.52041504 -50.57041277 2020 2C. Real accumulation of assets Number of taxable estates (thousands) 22.32811414 -50.57041277 2020 2D. Wealth concentration Number of taxable estates (thousands) -23.94221511 -50.57041277 2020 3A. Tax cuts Number of taxable estates (thousands) -125.2956965 -50.57041277 2020 3B. Tax planning Number of taxable estates (thousands) -0.787654693 -50.57041277 2020 4. Unexplained changes Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2.473358807 -50.57041277
Filing year Actual Mean Lower Upper 2001 0.717894925 0.77108508 0.703077103 0.839093057 2002 0.726372892 0.757689435 0.69476393 0.82061494 2003 0.863985301 0.744293791 0.68625664 0.802330941 2004 0.772100436 0.730898146 0.677501892 0.7842944 2005 0.628524222 0.717502501 0.668429427 0.766575576 2006 0.734074181 0.704106857 0.658947907 0.749265806 2007 0.731691751 0.690711212 0.648942177 0.732480247 2008 0.619792184 0.677315568 0.638275442 0.716355693 2009 0.75367107 0.663919923 0.626801627 0.701038219 2010 0.605529489 0.650524278 0.614391717 0.686656839 2011 0.637128634 0.600969078 0.67328819 2012 0.528747345 0.623732989 0.586535913 0.660930065 2013 0.566848506 0.610337345 0.57117245 0.649502239 2014 0.703264649 0.5969417 0.555009458 0.638873942 2015 0.54980227 0.583546055 0.538193059 0.628899052 2016 0.549333654 0.570150411 0.520859101 0.619441721 2017 0.530817053 0.556754766 0.503121478 0.610388055 2018 0.561882062 0.543359122 0.485070328 0.601647916 2019 0.664754944 0.529963477 0.466774911 0.593152043 2020 0.430313554 0.516567832 0.448287794 0.584847871
Scenario Variable Filing year Value 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2001 23.53477188 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2002 23.59426369 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2003 22.04590054 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2004 26.38673209 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2005 35.71543704 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2006 39.06259012 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2007 40.76528333 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2008 45.48792311 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2009 39.43603537 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2010 40.95555716 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2011 47.6325192 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2012 47.24725411 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2013 51.27198582 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2014 58.4925835 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2015 65.06547346 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2016 71.1341111 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2017 79.91559341 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2018 84.1348047 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2019 75.674567 2000 law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2020 84.53048428 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2001 51.84608426 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2002 51.10248876 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2003 52.06423316 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2004 67.05689858 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2005 85.67473818 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2006 94.68810585 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2007 93.49665198 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2008 78.96031673 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2009 73.13381052 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2010 78.88236853 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2011 83.58469641 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2012 85.58524889 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2013 92.99289106 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2014 80.38160357 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2015 90.27798058 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2016 105.096293 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2017 128.9855349 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2018 135.6449538 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2019 125.6512694 2000 law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2020 127.3590227 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2001 23.53477188 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2002 21.39698191 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2003 20.79806123 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2004 21.61502505 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2005 21.67466402 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2006 24.65456015 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2007 22.48836837 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2008 24.80628697 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2009 20.64580984 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2010 13.22487596 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2011 3.078551911 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2012 8.50012453 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2013 12.67259181 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2014 16.39920338 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2015 17.08085901 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2016 18.30413075 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2017 19.94176359 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2018 20.18197607 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2019 13.21861782 Actual law Estate tax liability ($ bil) 2020 9.334075025 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2001 51.84608426 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2002 45.10232775 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2003 33.38048515 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2004 31.3602517 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2005 20.28822267 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2006 22.81639308 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2007 17.4389032 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2008 17.16678746 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2009 14.7292866 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2010 6.751405892 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2011 1.485832318 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2012 3.749224085 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2013 4.701640704 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2014 5.175870068 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2015 4.934150828 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2016 5.230934245 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2017 5.189466852 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2018 5.488988459 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2019 2.574317717 Actual law Number of taxable estates (thousands) 2020 1.275671491