Taxes just might kill you in Pennsylvania

From an article by Brian Bowling in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Benjamin Franklin once quipped that nothing is certain "except death and taxes," but even he couldn't know a tax on death would be just as certain in his home state.

Census Bureau figures released Monday show that about 2.5 percent of Pennsylvania's 2008 revenue came from "death and gift" taxes, the highest percentage of any state. Death taxes can take one of two forms — a tax on the estate of the deceased or a tax on the amounts inherited by survivors. Until 2003, Pennsylvania had both.

While the state has followed the federal government and a majority of states in phasing out the estate tax, Pennsylvania clings to its 183-year-old inheritance tax.

Most states have eliminated or drastically reduced the "death tax" but not Pennsylvania. Another glaring example of why Pennsylvania should be renamed Taxsylvania.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.