Oberhand v. Director, Division of Taxation

*562Justice WALLACE, JR.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Congress amended the federal estate tax law effective January 1, 2002, in part, to increase the value of assets that could pass free of federal estate tax under the unified credit provision and to phase out the state death tax credit, the source of New Jersey estate tax revenue. To avoid the loss of revenue due to the federal changes, in July 2002, the Legislature amended N.J.S.A. 54:38-1 to provide that the New Jersey estate tax would not follow the federal amendments, but would continue to be computed in accordance with the federal…