Alan Shatter's campaign to abolish Inheritance Tax

232,000 Irish households had net wealth (assets less debt) of more than €1m in 2022. That figure is likely to have grown.
 
"Inheritance taxes disincentivise such work and such sacrifice and actually encourage the wasteful dissolution of inherited wealth" isn't exactly cryptic.
Great - if it's not cryptic, you'll have no bother expanding on it so Purple (and me, I must be a bit slow on the uptake this morning too) can understand what you're driving at.

I fixed the quote too, as the work and sacrifice you referred to were the good and noble ones aimed at not being a financial burden on others in old age.
 
Great - if it's not cryptic, you'll have no bother expanding on it so Purple (and me, I must be a bit slow on the uptake this morning too) can understand what you're driving at.
The statement stands on its own merits. As such, I have no wish to expand on it.
I fixed the quote too, as the work and sacrifice you referred to were the good and noble ones aimed at not being a financial burden on others in old age.
Please don't put into my quotes, words that I did not utter.
 

Here's what you said - where did I misquote you?
 
I join with Purple and troubledman to say that I have no idea what it means either. Well, I suppose I understand what it means, but I don't understand how it means that.
That's odd, Brendan. It's a very straightforward point. I have seen people inherit very valuable assets and not bother to even maintain them because they perceive the work/risk/reward ratio not to be worth it. It's a key reason why there is so much dereliction in the country. Inheritance taxes impact on that ratio.
 
I have seen people inherit very valuable assets and not bother to even maintain them because they perceive the work/risk/reward ratio not to be worth it.

I hope you advise them against this ridiculous line of thinking.

If I inherit an investment property and I have to pay €660k CAT, I might resent it. But there is no advantage to me in letting the property fall into ruin. I am not getting the CAT back.
 
There's no accounting for folk, literally and metaphorically.

Why would anyone deliberately allow their wealth to diminish because they would have to pay less than a third of any increase in tax? It seems like a remarkably stupid thing to do.
 
Maybe in this scenario your parent is letting the investment property fall into dereliction so that you inherit less and so have to pay less CAT.
 
There's no accounting for folk, literally and metaphorically.

Why would anyone deliberately allow their wealth to diminish because they would have to pay less than a third of any increase in tax? It seems like a remarkably stupid thing to do.
That's exactly the point. Human beings are routinely irrational, often to the point of remarkable stupidity and even beyond that.
 
@Ceist Beag since you are not concerned about the rare case of the people with millions, let's consider how the tax operates, as it is a quite progressive tax:

Inheritance valueTax-free thresholdTaxable InheritanceTax (@33%)Effective rate
100,000335,000NilNilNil
200,000335,000NilNilNil
300,000335,000NilNilNil
400,000335,00065,00021,4505.4%
500,000335,000165,00054,45010.9%
600,000335,000265,00087,45014.6%
700,000335,000365,000120,45017.2%
800,000335,000465,000153,45019.2%
900,000335,000565,000186,45020.7%
1,000,000335,000665,000219,45021.9%
1,250,000335,000915,000301,95024.2%
1,500,000335,0001,165,000384,45025.63

As you said yourself in response to another poster, only 13% of households have net wealth in excess of €1m. so the majority of all people will be in line to inherit an amount that is exempt, if anything.

To me, CAT functions as a wealth tax, and a reasonably good one. Despite some posters' hyperbole, I'm yet to see anyone who was financially ruined by a CAT liability.