The Republicans have scored a conceptual victory by renaming the Federal Estate Tax the "Death" Tax and making it sound as though the IRS literally confiscates the inheritances of nearly everybody. Max Sawicky, long one of my favorite writers on economics, writes two short articles on the Economic Policy Institute web site with graphs on the estate tax, showing who is affected and by how much. Well worth reading.
Death and Taxes, Part I
Death and Taxes, Part II
Ironically, the Estate Tax was originally enacted by Republicans just like original anti-trust legislation. Things sure have changed.