Many states have their own taxes. These include income, property, such as intangible, various types of death or wealth transfer taxes, and others. An inheritance tax is a tax on the right to receive wealth that is measured by the share of an estate that passes to a particular beneficiary. An estate tax is a tax upon the net estate of a decedent, and is based on the right to transmit property to the estate beneficiaries. Some states impose both.

A generation-skipping tax is a tax that is imposed on a transfer of wealth to a beneficiary that is two or more generations younger than the transferror, i.e., a grandchild. The tax is imposed because an estate tax is avoided on the next youngest generation, i.e., that of the parents of the grandchild; i.e., your children.

A gift tax is a tax on the right to transfer wealth to another during life. It is analogous to the estate tax at death and is an integral part of some, but not all, state tax systems. States imposing gift taxes are marked in yellow.

All states impose an estate or inheritance tax. The Federal government grants a credit against the Federal estate tax for state inheritance or estate taxes. To extent a state tax paid is credited against the Federal tax payable, no additional taxes are paid. In essence, this is a Federal-state revenue sharing measure. The Federal credit, however, is limited. Some states impose taxes that exceed the Federal limit. The states indicated in red are those that impose a death tax that can exceed the Federal limit and can require the payment of taxes that are greater than the Federal credit. All other states will not exceed the limit and do not impose any additional taxes.

Similarly, some states impose a generation-skipping tax. These are marked in green. A Federal credit, similar to the Federal credit for state inheritance and estate tax, is available. No states impose a generation-skipping tax that will exceed the Federal credit.