You wanna guess why so few people pay the tax? You mentioned the exemption, but there are plenty of small family business owners out there shoveling money at life insurance companies, trusts and tax preparers (money that could be spent to hire more employees and increase income tax rolls) in order to pass the business on to their kids. Maybe that (and not the pure saintly goodness of his heart) is why insurance mogul, Warren Buffett, testified against repeal. The estate tax accounts for less than 2% of the federal budget. It is estimated that repeal would create 1.5 million jobs. Hmmm...jobs or massively, insanely rich insurance companies? Boy, that's tough, but I'm gonna say jobs. And I think 90% of the country will agree.