What is the Death Tax?

FOR estate planning, the big headline to emerge from the tax deal last December was that the estate tax exemption would be raised in 2011 to $5 million, or $10 million for married couples. Anything over those thresholds would be subject to a 35 percent tax.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/yourtaxes/13estate.html 

The death tax (a.k.a., the federal estate tax) is a tax applied to the transfer of a person’s assets at death. It is defined by the Internal Revenue Service as “a tax on your right to transfer property at your death.”[1]

Under current law,  the is rate of 35 percent with an exemption of $5 million.

 http://www.nodeathtax.org/deathtax