Assemblyman Ronald S. Dancer has introduced legislation that would repeal the transfer inheritance tax and reduce New Jersey’s estate tax to be consistent with federal policy. “In New Jersey, one of the nation’s worst tax burdens is applied to the living, and the dead,” Dancer, R-Ocean, Burlington, Middlesex and Monmouth, said. “It’s time to bury the death tax.”

Dancer’s bill would repeal the transfer inheritance tax and amend the estate tax to increase the filing threshold and exclusion amounts in accordance with the provisions of federal tax law. The law would apply to estates whose owners died after Dec. 31, 2011.

The transfer inheritance tax is one of New Jersey’s oldest taxes, dating to 1892. The 16 percent tax is applied when property is transferred outside the immediate family. The other death tax, known as the estate tax is applied on property valued at more than $675,000.

Dancer’s legislation would provide tax relief by revising that $675,000 New Jersey estate tax threshold to the federal level, which is currently $5.1 million. New Jersey, one of 22 states with either kind of death tax, and just one of two states with both, was cited by Forbes as a place “Where Not to Die In 2012.”

“Few states tax estates, fewer have an inheritance tax and New Jersey is just one of two states that has both. We give a whole new meaning to the saying that nothing is certain but death and taxes and for those of us who are left standing, it is death by taxes,” Dancer said. “This is sound economic policy because the death tax can kill economic growth when applied to small business owners and farmers who may be forced out of business if they can’t afford it.”

“People should not have to meet with their accountants on the same day they meet with a funeral director,” Dancer added. TLS.