does the unlimited marital deduction eliminate taxes 
actually no it only defers them estate taxes if applicable will apply when the second spouse dies the bottom linethe unlimited marital deduction is an estate planning tool that allows someone before or after death to transfer assets to their spouse without incurring estate or gift taxes on the amount transferred this estate tax provision treats two spouses as one economic entity it went into effect in 1982 due to an effort by congress to deal with the financial burden that could result when estates were pushed into higher tax brackets 