‘Political suicide’ inheritance tax gains growing support - SUPPOSEDLY

Article just came across quoting a Dr Veronica Coram a social policy expert at UniSA. She seems to think now is the time to reintroduce an inheritance tax.

According to one comment

"Heard her being interviewed on the radio this morning. She interviewed only 55 people with the young ones being 18-25yos - hardly a valid sample size and disappointing that an academic would release a paper with such a small sample size.
I wonder how many of those questioned were going to be entitled to an Estate worth more than $3m (the value the survey put up as the threshold)?"

‘Political suicide’ inheritance tax gains growing support: Research

I for one am very concerned abut the re-taxing of anything that I and my family have worked for and foregone all sorts of discretionary spending to reinvest in our little empire.

What are your thoughts for the Government re-taxing all you have built up?

 

I asked once whether there was CGT in heaven.

Seems like there is!!

 

I'm a fan of an inheritance tax in some form. Especially if we continue to be generous with the aged pension for people with high value PPORs.

Policy wise, I don't think its necessarily the case that beneficiaries are 100% deserving of a tax free estate distribution compared to the state and public services that usually support a person in their older age.

 

I personally would not wanna see such tax.
But that's understandable - I'll be on the losing side (well, technically - I'll be dead, so not lose after all).

I'm sure others, who are not going to enjoy the intergenerational wealth would like to see one interduced. Why not? They won't be effected and they could feel the joy of others getting shafted.

Luckily for me, it seems many (most?) Australians have enough to leave behind to not want to see such tax comes in, to make it a political suicide to even think about it.
We're still democracy, last time I checked....

 

And worse is God has no share of it...

 

If something like that comes in, I imagine I wouldn't be the only one to start restructuring things into trusts and / or giving away a lot of my wealth earlier then originally planned.

 

Yes I think it is a good idea.

 

Governments are going to find all sorts of ways to pay for the spending spree they've gone on this past year. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Well it's enough to make me stop God bothering completely!

 

Work = pay tax
Buy stuff = pay tax
Die = pay tax........

Since when did existing or dying mean one needed to pay tax on anything more than a profit ???

 

I'm sure the ATO will happily take your volountary extra payments.
You could put them in your will or give them in advance.

Most of us think that paying tax, land tax, council rates and levies should be enough.

 

I’m not totally against the idea of an inheritance tax if it was only against, for example, estates over $5M (or something like that). Would save my final judgement based on the details of any proposal put forward.

 

Death Duties / Inheritance Tax used to be a fundamental policy of the Greens, but they removed it from their policy documents several elections ago as it wasn't helping their cause. (Not to say it isn't still on their agenda).

I doubt a Lib/Nat government would ever bring it in although a Labor government might try.

Regardless, when the rules of the game change, you change strategy, so if it ever were to be introduced I think there would be an enormous wealth shift to the younger generation as well as Trusts which in turn would place a higher burden on the Aged welfare system as people age with less money in their twilight years.

 

I’m not against an inheritance tax either if it was only against estates that have $1 over what ever my estate is.

I’m all for tax’s, as long as they don’t include me paying them.

 

Haha of course!!

But seriously I think they are a fairer way of (attempting?) to make things (slightly!) more equitable. It’s much more palatable to me than high income tax rates.

 

I won't be paying anymore than I have to.

 

+1

In addition to having worked and sacrificed for what we now have, we have already contributed a significant amount to society in income tax, stamp duty, land tax and capital gains tax etc. To be taxed again on death (on already taxed income) is very unfair.

 

Unlikely to happen. They can't even get NG wiped off the table without getting hammered by the voters. I doubt an inheritance tax will become policy any time soon.

Personally, I think the idea of an inheritance tax is especially disgusting for the folks who worked hard all their life to not be reliant on the pension and financially supported themselves from their own resources.

 

The problem with this is that you may think that $5M is a lot of money, but what happens in, say, 30 years when that dollar amount hasn't been indexed up, and your $5M will only buy you a very basic home in the outer suburbs of Sydney.

I say NO! No introduction of any new taxes. I've paid more than enough in one lifetime as it is.

 

It doesn't affect them at all; alternative taxes probably would. If (as is the case in UK) at the margin 40% of what you own will ultimately go in tax it acts as an encouragement to go out and enjoy the results of your lifetime's work while you can. Inheritance tax is really a tax on those who stand to inherit and who may or may not deserve a windfall.