Gerard P. Craughwell: Inheritance Tax Is Punishing Families
Gerard P. Craughwell used his speaking time in the House to challenge Ireland's inheritance tax, arguing it penalises ordinary families and calls for a full debate. He set out current Group thresholds and urged lawmakers to treat the family home as a place of memory, not a taxable asset.
Key points: Craughwell details how the current tax-free thresholds work, noting Group A for parent-to-child is stated at £400,000, Group B at £40,000, and Group C at £20,000. He argues these levels now draw ordinary households into liability, particularly where property prices have risen.
Impact on families: He warns the system discriminates against childless citizens and unmarried partners and can hit heirs with large bills at a moment of loss. Craughwell says the tax undermines the idea of leaving something for the next generation and penalises aspiration.
Inequality and tax planning: The senator highlights how wealthier families can use professional planning to minimise liabilities while ordinary families cannot, reinforcing inequality rather than redressing it.
Proposal and request: Craughwell calls for thresholds to be raised to realistic levels and for recognition of the citizen's home as a place of memory and stability. He asks colleagues to open a debate in the House on why people should have to "pay tax when we die."
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Thank you very much Cathaoirleach and thank you to Senator Conway and best wishes to all Greek colleagues. Thank you for being here. Cathaoirleach, today I want to use my speaking time to speak about an issue that affects families across Ireland and an issue that quietly punishes people at the very moment they are dealing with loss. I'm talking about inheritance tax. As a person who's in the departure lounge myself, my family may be looking at it in the very near future. I hope not, but they may be. At the core of the inheritance tax is meant to ensure fairness, but in practice it does the opposite. It penalises ordinary families, it undermines the idea of building something for the next generation and it treats aspiration as something that must be taxed rather than encouraged. Let's start with the basics. The current tax-free threshold for parent to child in Group A is £400,000, but the threshold for siblings, nieces and nephews and grandchildren in Group B is £40,000. For all others, including close friends, unmarried partners, they are in Group C and the threshold is £20,000. In many constituencies, urban and increasingly suburban, the average family home now exceeds the threshold in Group A by quite a considerable amount. The result is that ordinary families, not high net worth households, are being drawn into the tax originally designed for a very different economic reason. Furthermore, the current system clearly discriminates against childless citizens. In many cases, a son or daughter inheriting a house they grew up in can now face a tax bill running to tens of thousands of euros, not because they're wealthy, not because they've done anything wrong, simply because their parents owned a modest home in a county where property prices have spiralled. This is not a tax luxury. It has become a tax on ordinary life and what messages does it send? We tell people to work hard, save, invest in their homes and build a better future for their children. Yet when they do exactly that, the state steps in at the worst possible moment and takes a significant portion of what they've earned with money that they already paid tax on. Inheritance tax creates inequality between those who can afford professional tax planning and those who cannot. Wealthy families can structure their assets and minimise the impact. Ordinary families cannot. The result is the system that claims to promote fairness but ends up in reinforcing very inequalities that we're supposed to address. We need a tax system that reflects modern Ireland, its housing market, its cost of living and its values. This means raising thresholds to realistic levels. It means recognising the citizen's home as a place of memory and stability, not a taxable asset. And it means ensuring that people are not punished for wanting to provide for their children or for those citizens who are not married and have no children, for providing for people they love and care for all of their life. So I think we should have a debate in this House on inheritance tax and specifically on the issue that we worked all our lives paying tax. Why do we have to pay tax when we die? God help us, our children. Thank you. For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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