Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project, explains the history of estate and inheritance taxes and how they became so unpopular.

For additional coverage, read these article in Tax Notes:

• Tax History: The Century of the Estate Tax: Made for Revenue, Not Redistribution
• Tax History: The Not-So-Puzzling Unpopularity of the Estate Tax
• Tax History: When Estates Were (Almost) Taxed as Income