Inheritance Tax Rates-What’s going on?

I heard the inheritance tax rates are going to increase taxes by as much as 45%, is this true and when will this happen?

The rates are going down to 45%. Under the old regime, tax rates used to be up to 55% at the federal level. The state and estate taxes reach between 10% and 19% in addition to the federal taxes.  For estate tax purposes, the exemption for 2009 is 3.5 million. In 2010, if congress does not take any action, estate taxes will be no more, but then in 2011, if congress again does not take any action, estate taxes will be back down to 1 million dollars. For the state of Washington, there is a 2 million dollar exemption regardless of what the federal exemption is.  But I do think something will happen before Dec. 31^st, but I’m just not sure what.