Calls to review 'highly discriminatory' inheritance tax laws due to rising south Dublin house prices

There have been calls to lower the 'highly discriminatory' inheritance tax due to rising property prices in south Dublin.

Olivia Buckley, Fianna Fáil Local Election candidate in Dundrum, says that rates of inheritance tax and the current thresholds that apply need to be seriously reviewed, as South Dublin homeowners are being penalised for the rising house prices since 2012.

She said: “House prices in the Dundrum area have increased by almost 100% over the past 6 years, penalising Dublin parents and children and pushing them over the inheritance tax exemption limit of €320,000. Through no fault of their own, parents and children are feeling the pressure of a volatile property market in Dublin.

“The price of an average house in our capital is now €383,000, 74% above its lowest point, reached in the second quarter of 2012. The thresholds have not taken proper account of what has happened in the market. They may have increased somewhat in recent years but at €320,000 they bear no relationship with the rise of house prices in Dublin.

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“Ireland’s capital tax rate of 33% is also one of the highest in the world. The combination of low thresholds and high rates mean children inheriting a modest family home in the area are being burdened with extremely high inheritance tax bills, which often they cannot afford.

“It is unfair to punish hard-working people on the back of a pressurised property market. I believe we need an urgent review of this highly discriminatory inheritance tax regime. The thresholds were originally reduced to reflect the fall in property prices, but they have not been adjusted back up in proportion to the property prices in Dublin."

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03/10/2018 Richard Boyd Barrett TD during a 'Raise the Roof' rally highlighting the housing crisis on Molesworth Street, Dublin (Gareth Chaney Collins)

However, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has said claimed that reduction to inheritance tax would be 'wrong'.

He told Dublin Live: "It might be fair to give some protection to some people, but across the board changes to inheritance tax would be wrong, and not a route we should go down."

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