Forbes.com:  “Newly released data from the Internal Revenue Service show that from 2001 to 2007, as the estate tax was reduced, the percentage of wealthy decedents leaving charitable bequests declined too.  The report is stoking charities' longstanding fear that bequests would drop off if Congress allowed the estate tax to lapse–as it did as of Jan. 1. The estate tax doesn't apply to sums left to charity, and traditionally about 8% of donations come through bequests.”