Death tax is a term used to refer to the estate tax. This tax is a tax applied to estates when they are probated at death. The term is used by many people to show their distaste for a tax that occurs only after a person dies. What many people don't realize until they actually go through probate or go to an estate planner is that close to 99% of all estates do not pay any death taxes. This is because the estate has to be worth more than 3.5 million dollars. Furthermore, spouses are exempt from paying the estate tax and so is any property that has been left to tax-exempt charities. All of these factors add up to relatively few people paying the death tax.