Estate Tax Phase-out bill

Death Tax Elimination Act of 2000 - Title I: Repeal of Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Taxes; Repeal of Step Up in Basis At Death - Repeals the estate tax, gift tax, and the tax on generation-skipping transfers, effective January 1, 2010.

(Sec. 102) Terminates, effective January 1, 2010, the current provisions providing for determining the basis of property the acquired from a decedent and sets forth new provisions for determining the basis of certain property acquired from a decedent dying after December 31, 2009.

Title II: Reductions of Estate and Gift Tax Rates Prior to Repeal - Sets forth additional estate and gift tax reductions applicable to the period prior to repeal.

Title III: Unified Credit Replaced Unified Exemption Amount - Replaces the unified credit with a unified exemption amount.

Title IV: Modifications of Generation-Skipping Tax - Amends provisions concerning the special rules for allocation of the generation-skipping tax (GST) exemption to provide, as a general rule, that: (1) if any individual makes an indirect skip during such individual's lifetime, any unused portion of such individual's GST exemption shall be allocated to the property transferred to the extent necessary to make the inclusion ratio for such property zero; and (2) if the amount of the indirect skip exceeds such unused portion, the entire unused portion shall be allocated to the property transferred.

(Sec. 402) Declares that, if a trust is severed in a qualified severance, the trusts resulting from such severance shall be treated as separate trusts thereafter.

(Sec. 403) Revises valuation rules for gifts for which a gift tax return was filed or deemed allocation made. Provides that, if an allocation of the GST exemption to any transfers of property is deemed to have been made at the close of an estate tax inclusion period, the value of the property shall be its value at such time.

(Sec. 404) Directs the Secretary to prescribe circumstances and procedures under which extensions of time will be granted to make an allocation of GST exemption or an election not to apply specified allocation requirements to certain lifetime direct skips, indirect skips, or transfers to a particular trust.

Title V: Conservation Easements - Doubles, from 25 to 50 miles, the distance within which qualified conservation easements must be located from a metropolitan area, national park, or wilderness area and increases, from 10 to 25 miles, the distance which such easements must be from an Urban National Forest.