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This article analyzes changes in the effective rates of inheritance and gift taxes in France from the 1870s to the present. Over the long term, the tax rate has changed due to changes in tax scales and in the way the administration has valued the property passed on, as well as changes in the structure of the transmissions. The period 1930-1950 witnessed the heaviest period of taxation of inheritances and gifts, especially direct inheritances. From the 1950s, tax rates began to diverge sharply between children and spouses on the one hand and distant and non-parental relatives on the other. For indirect inheritances, the average tax rate has risen sharply over time to reach 20% to 25% today. In the long run, the increase in the proportion of direct inheritances and gifts in all transmissions has had the effect of moderating the average tax rate. This trend could be reversed in coming decades because of demographic changes.