death tax

noun

: a tax arising on the transmission of property after the owner's death

especially : estate tax

Examples of death tax in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The claim is that the death tax imposes an unfair and costly tax on the transfer of property, land, and other assets from a decedent to his or her heirs and that can decimate small businesses and family farms. —Martin Shenkman, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025

Legislative Changes to Local Death Tax Proposed changes to inheritance tax rules, including potential alterations to relieve the death tax burden on local business and agricultural assets, may significantly impact estate planning strategies. —Matthew F. Erskine, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025

For those with taxable annual incomes above $1.0 million a year, a Harris-Walz administration would at death tax unrealized capital gains at 28% (lower than the Biden proposal of 39.6%) for amounts above $5.0 million maximum, $10.0 million for joint filers. —Milton Ezrati, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024

So get rid of the death tax for everybody. —Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 31 Mar. 2023

But some, without inflation adjustments, are still taxing estates at levels that haven’t budged for years, meaning more families are getting surprise death tax bills. —Ashlea Ebeling, Forbes, 13 May 2022

President Biden has set his sights on enacting a new death tax on top of the existing estate tax. —Chuck Grassley, WSJ, 11 Aug. 2021

House Bill 2881, filed by representative Shawn Dooley of Norfolk, fixes the flaws of our current Massachusetts death tax. —BostonGlobe.com, 21 July 2021

The real cost of losing senior residents who seek to avoid the Massachusetts death tax? —BostonGlobe.com, 21 July 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for death tax

• attacks
• backpacks
• beeswax
• borax
• callbacks
• carfax
• climax
• cutbacks
• drawbacks
• feedbacks
• flashbacks
• greenbacks

Legal Definition

death tax

noun

: a tax assessed on the transfer of property (as an estate, inheritance, legacy, or succession) after the transferor's death compare estate tax, generation-skipping transfer tax, gift tax