A Finna Fail councillor has called for the government to look at ways to reform the current inheritance tax.
The call comes as the current tax is at 33% on anything above the threshold of €225,000. Councillor Jim O’Callaghan says with the current surge of property prices in the nations capital many bereaved adult children are at risk of losing their family homes because they cannot afford to pay the tax.
Mr O’Callaghan told reporters outside the Dail. “What I’m calling for is that the threshold should return to the level it was at in 2000 – at that stage, it was a threshold of €381,000,”. He went onto say: “Now, we’re dealing with a figure of €225,000, which is the same as it was in 1995. I don’t think it’s fair that you have this arbitrary rise in the amount of tax you have to pay based upon the increase in the values of properties.”