An interesting but related point about the power of propaganda:

The family farms story is a myth created (or maybe first given authority) by Bill Beach at the Heritage Foundation around 1996. It was part his plan for the rhetoric and talking points of an assault on the estate tax.[1]

  repeal proponents are still unable to produce a single,
  verifiable example of a farm or business closing due to
  the burden of estate tax payments. [as of 2013]

It's amazing to think that one person can sit down in a room and plan terminology and a story like that, and here we are almost 20 years later and people blithely repeat it. It's a bit scary too. The term "death tax" was part of the same planning, though I'm not sure it was Beach's idea.

I highly recommend the article below, which will change how you look at politics forever:

[1] http://www.psqonline.org/article.cfm?IDArticle=19132

Actually I had never heard of this made as a political argument before. It was a family friend who had to sell off assets in a small manufacturing business to pay off the taxes due on their inheritance. So yeah, it happens.

"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"

There's no evidence of this ever happening.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/3/the-estate-tax-...

That was the "Joe the Plumber"/"CRA caused the financial crisis" story of estate tax.