Fair to whom?  Estates are the after-tax accumulation of assets.  The taxes were already paid.  A successful person should have the right to leave his assets to his family. You did nothing to earn them.

Of course, people like Warren Buffet, who claims his secretary has a higher tax bracket than he does, are experts in legal tax avoidance.  Through Berkshire Hathaway, he gives lip service to higher estate taxes and corporate taxes in exchange for protection from the Keystone XL pipeline, which can transport oil for $15/bbl less than his BNSF Railroad out of the Bakken; better access to pipelines would cost him $200 million a year.  He buys companies with a Net Operating Loss Carryforward to offset the earnings of the companies he already owns to eliminate their taxes.  And he buys dividend-paying companies and stops the dividend, because dividends are taxable, and capital gains can be deferred 'til death, when the asset receives a stepped up cost basis and no tax is owed. (cont'd)