Dueller, what would you do for a living if there was no estate tax? I've been thinking of getting into estates and trusts myself. I say bring back the death tax and make is as complex as can be.
Seriously, as a policy matter, I think estate taxes should have a large excemption to cover the middle class, another generous excemption to exclude family farms (real families, not the Cargills) and small businesses (again, real small business, not the Fords, although they are trying hard to qualify) and then anything above a certain level should be taxed.
The middle class and comfortably well off should not be hit with estate taxes. The rich and very rich made their money off the American public, they can return some of it when they die. The children of the rich did nothing to earn that money; they benefited disproportionatly from society's bounty by the fate of being born well. They should be happy to pay some tax on it. I don't mean a confiscatory tax like in the 50s and 60s, a realistic tax that reflects that it is inherited wealth but still give the decedents an incentive to leave something to the kids. It's not like they're going to spend it on anything other than hookers and blow, anyway.