What? Is that possible? Could there truly be a good place to die? When did dying become a good thing?

It isn’t. But from a tax perspective there are places where it’s “less bad” to die. Why’s that? Because of state-imposed estate and inheritance taxes.

Much has been made of the $5,000,000 Federal estate tax exemption for 2011 and 2012. What has received less/no press is that several states and the District of Columbia impose an estate or inheritance tax – or, worse yet, both!

If you’re scoping out a place to say your final goodbyes here are a few things to keep in mind:

Like Uncle Sam the states provide an exemption for a specific sum that is free from taxation. States offering exemptions of less than $1,000,000 include Ohio ($338,333), NJ ($675,000) and Rhode Island ($850,000). Exemptions equal to $1,000,000 are offered by Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Oregon. Illinois, Vermont and Washington exempt $2,000,000. Connecticut and Delaware exempt $3,500,000. The largest exemption of $5,000,000 is offered by Hawaii and North Carolina.

Estate tax rates vary greatly. Ohio’s is lowest at 7% followed by Connecticut’s 12%. The other states and the District of Columbia impose a 16% tax. The state of Washington bucks the trend by weighing in at a confiscatory and rather shameless 19%.

Several states impose an inheritance tax. Unlike estate taxes which are imposed against the value of an estate (minus any applicable exemption) inheritance taxes are assessed against specific assets. Of the six states imposing an inheritance tax all but Tennessee ($1,000,000) offer no/negligible exemption.

Inheritance tax rates vary greatly. Tennessee’s is lowest at 9.5%. Iowa and Pennsylvania weigh in at 15%. It’s 16% in Kentucky, 18% in Nebraska and 20% in Indiana.