SINN FÉIN’S PEARSE DOHERTY said it “doesn’t surprise” him in the least that Simon Harris is looking to “favour those who are coming into large wealth” by floating the idea of inheritance tax changes in this year’s budget.
Responding to a question from The Journal on whether October’s budget will see changes to the tax, Harris said yesterday:
“I do think inheritance tax is a legitimate point for consideration in the budget because obviously it has a real impact on a son or daughter, nephew or niece trying to basically move into the family home.
“At a time when we’re trying to come up with a wide variety of housing solutions I do think we do need to be mindful of the fact that house prices have risen and inheritance tax hasn’t.”
He added that the issues around “unfairnesses” and “anomalies” with inheritance tax, as well as issues around inheriting farms needs to be considered.
Under the current rules, children are able to inherit €335,000 from their parents before they have to pay tax at 33%.
Sinn Féin, in its last alternative budget, proposed to increase the rate of inheritance tax by 3%, from 33% to 36%.
Doherty confirmed that increasing the rate is still the party’s policy, stating:
It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Simon Harris is going to actually use some of the resources of the state to actually favour those who are coming into large wealth.
He added that Sinn Féin has a different set of priorities, adding that his party doesn’t aim to target somebody who wants to inherit more than €335,000.
Doherty says Harris seeks to 'favour those coming into large wealth' with inheritance tax change https://t.co/pqYyHaUCiP pic.twitter.com/tA1bWigTnI
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“We’re going to be looking at the person that doesn’t even have a sniff of €300,000. They’re looking at actually, how do they pay the bills at the end of the week, and how do we make the resources that are available to the state to lift the pressure off them.
“It’s about stripping out the costs in childcare and health and third level education and secondary and primary level education. It’s about putting more money in their pocket with substantial cuts to the USC. It’s about making sure that our pensioners and those social welfare dependents have got the right resources,” he said.
His party would like to see at least a €12 increase in pension payments and core social welfare payments, said Doherty.
“It’s all about choices,” he said.
In an interview with The Journal in 2022, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke about recommendations that were contained in the Commission of Taxation report – which recommended increase in inheritance tax take.
At the time, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said some of the recommendations were “straight out of the Sinn Féin manifesto”.
McDonald said the commission were proposing “a very dramatic and steep increase in that tax. So we’re not proposing that, that’s not our position”.
In the 2022 interview, McDonald said:
“We totally understand that families want to look after their loved ones, their kids, their grandkids… Where you have active farmland and where it’s a working asset, of course that has to be protected from inheritance tax.
“But we also have to recognise that we live in a society where some people for generations are caught in a particular experience of having less, or even living in poverty, and then other people just by where you’re born and who you’re born to, you have a better chance. And I think the the taxation system has to correct for that.”
“The area of taxation, like others, you have to always test for equity,” she added.
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