The person who dies isn't getting taxed. The person that gets a windfall of income from the death is the one being taxed.
No because government takes their money before it goes from the dead person to the heirs.
If my father is worth a million dollars, and he passes that on to his children and grand children, we may each get about $70,000 a piece. If government comes along and takes half of that money first, then we are actually getting taxed at a much higher bracket for the money we are getting.
Government gets a much bigger cut from my fathers estate than his very own children. What's right about that?