If you die, then your assets will pass tax-free to your spouse. And if you don’t have a spouse, then your assets will almost certainly pass on tax-free to your heirs. But if you are very rich and have over $11 million in assets as a single person or $22 million assets as a married couple, then you will need to pay a federal estate tax.

Most — though not all — Senate Republicans are very fired up about this and have introduced legislation to help out the heirs to large fortunes by eliminating this tax.