Inflation is a subtle process.
For most of you, it did, and this is one cause of the problem. Besides sophisticated tax planning, there are some simple tools to squeeze, freeze and pass an estate to heirs, if you move forward now. Also, there is a planning window that may close if a fickle Congress feels that too much revenue is slipping through the cracks. So complete your plan while the rules are favorable. A simple planning process is to just sweep everything in excess of the estate tax exclusions to charity.