Inheritance/Death Tax - Thoughts?

https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/political-dynamite-tax-in…

Incoming Productivity Commission boss Danielle Wood has argued there is “simply no policy justification” for how little tax retirees pay, and called for a debate on taxing large inheritances as part of sweeping changes to address intergenerational inequity.

As part of an ambitious reform agenda that would push more of the tax burden on to older Australians, Ms Wood has urged the government to start a “sensible conversation” on reintroducing a levy on bequests to fund a reduction in income taxes for working age Australians.

TLDR - They want to tax your assets that you have 'ready' paid tax on when your NOK inherit them

My 2cents - if any government wanted to pass this without being annihilate next election the trade off would be a LARGE reduction in income tax at all brackets - ie the tax free threshold would need to be double at very least.

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Poll Options

  • 152
    I support a 'death' tax
  • 511
    i do not support 'death' tax
  • 5
    i dont know

Comments

    • i guess some aren't as fortunate

    • +1

      Have you seen housing prices these days? Go outside and touch grass.

      • +2

        Done, the grass was nice, thank you.

        Get rid of negative gearing, see I solved it for you.

    • +1

      Lmao at people seething over the unfair super-rich leaving millions behind to give their children a massive head-start to accumulate even more wealth and then having people like you who are seemingly not part of that group advocating against leaving anything behind for your children. A true demonstration of why their families continue to become richer while others are incapable.

      • +3

        I see most of those rich people being a waste of space honestly. The first generation made the money, kudos to them, their kids are mostly ok (because their parents gave them good advice), the rest of the generations usually just waste it away. That is the reason why there are just a few examples of truly "old money".

        I want my kid to have the hunger to do things with their life, not just be comfortable and wait for me to die. I want my kid to tell me to spend my money as they can make their own.

        • Kudos for what exactly ?

          Most if not all rich people got rich not buy giving money away or paying employees well, they get rich by being arseholes of the worst kind. Taking advantage of poor people either here or overseas and more.

          They arent anybody's friend and they arent certainly champions of humanity.

        • If your kids are just sitting idly waiting for you to die, you haven't raised them right - inheritance or not.

  • +1

    All inheritance does is keep housing costs high, and blast up the cost of over 60s living
    A tax is a smart option to reign in the blown out costs in relation to a aging population
    It’s already inflationary
    Most want a dignified retirement and care in a nursing home - moving forward that isn’t happening
    A inheritance tax would cost the big end of town the most, but it would have to be designed so they can’t easily avoid it
    Intergenerational transfer of wealth is a pox on our society

  • +1

    Quick let's get middle class voters to be concerned for the poor poor rich boomers.

  • Next up on Oz Bargain:

    "I want to avoid an inheritance tax— How can I set up a family trust"

  • +2

    Wild thought

    Lets get companies and the extremely rich pay there fair share / what they owe first

    Not keep penny pinching from everyone else who really arnt well off at all

  • Funny reading people on both sides getting worked up over this. It's a recommendation from the Productivity Commission, which is an advisory body so the Government does not need to act on their advice (much like "The Voice").

    The Libs won't do it, and Labor won't do it so consider it dead, buried and cremated. The Greens would, but they'll never be in power.

  • Tough topic,

    I agree you should be able to giveaway your assets without tax

    However I like the idea that older Australians are encourage to live life, spend their wealth rather than continue working to save for their kids, grandkids etc.

  • -1

    Their solution to all problems is other peoples money. What have they solved?

  • +2

    What's next? Air tax? How much tax can someone physically be subjected too? Isn't it enough they take 36% of our income where we give 40 hours a week and the system gets the best parts of us during the day? And yet, we're dead at night, let alone OT. But, HEY, let's continue to tax them!

  • +1

    Voted yes, because someone has to pay for the $368 billion worth of AUKUS submarines to make ourselves a nuclear target.

  • +1

    I think maybe tax the remaining superannuation component would be ok? I'm getting a tax discount on the super when alive so if there's leftover when I die I'd support taxing the remaining balance before passing whatever is left to my kid.

  • Pensioners cost tax payers a lot of money. Do the maths its not hard, a few visits to the hospital every year is thousands, doctors, medicare again thousands, homecare visits again thousands a year when its all averaged between those that receive and those that done and i havent even counted the pension. Pensioners must be costing tax payers somewhere close to a $1000 a week.

    Fairs fair, after 20 - 30 years of this value worth on average $100k a year over 20 years thats $2M its only fair they contribute some of their share back.

    • its not the pensioners they want to tax, its the ones living off there own Superannuation, you know the ones not living off the government, well the idea is to tax them for some stupid reason.

  • just legislate having annual 10% wage rises.
    don't wait for the boomers to die to tax them.
    use inflation to redistribute wealth now.

  • -1

    Oh, f-off. Like most young people (<40 yo), inheritance is likely the only way I'll ever be able to purchase a home. At least give us something to look forward to, bleak as our futures are.

  • +1

    This is like franking credits all over again

    Except the Liberals don't need to do the propaganda… people are doing it themselves

    A proper tax system, would barely or not punish the poor. That is what our progressive tax system has been based on and has served us and most of the world well.

    We get in trouble when the wealthy have been able to successfully get the tax system flattened

    I'd imagine a death tax, would be something like first 1m no tax, 2m 5%, 10m+ 10%

    But then the Libs would get voted in and they'd try to reduce the 10m+ to 5% or create concessions for themselves

  • -1

    I reckon the first 5 mil should be exempt. That way people with 5 kids for example, still get to leave a somewhat decent amount to each kid.

    • 1 mil is more than "somewhat decent." And how many people have 5 kids today? The average is probably around 2-3. So, applying your exemption proposal, 3 mil at most. I'd say 2. Don't forget, we're talking tax-free inheritance. Far larger inheritances will still go to the kids, but a proportion will be taxed. That's fair. A generous tax free threshold is appropriate, though. The question is just what that should be.

      It should not be more than 3mill before super gets taxed at highest income tax rate. But inheritances are trickier. I just think dynastic wealth is unfair. It comes down to whether you believe the widening gap between rich and poor is acceptable. I don't.

  • +1

    If only Australians received fair recompense for the extraction and export of our non-renewable resources

    a-tale-of-two-fossil-superpowers-what-australia-can-learn-from-norway

    norway-shows-how-australia-can-get-a-fair-return-from-oil-and-gas/

  • And if only those who spend our tax funds are true OzBargainers. Who pays RRP for goods and services? who pays full fare to fly their staff? etc.

    They can learn a lot from this wacky, deal-chasing, discount-stacking, buy-now-think-later community and use our tax dollars more effectively and efficiently.

  • -1

    Why do people always assume the lack of capital at the start of life is the reason that they are poor later on? I’ve met self-made well-off people who came from bogan backgrounds. I’ve also met people who are on centre link and have subscribed to all the different streaming services and on $80/month mobile plan.

    It’s also dangerous, I might add, to spend too much time with the second group of people. It took me a while to unlearn certain things I picked up from them, one being happy to spend my time with strangers.

    Always be solving the wrong problem.

  • +1

    We really need to have an adult conversation about negative gearing, CGT and franking credits to name just a few. But wait!! Didn't Bill Shorten suggest changes to these things when he was ALP leader. He didn't become Prime Minister, so I guess that means that people didn't like the idea after all.

  • It used to be a state tax. Bjelke-Petersen removed it in Queensland. This was the start of retirees flocking to Queensland.

  • -1

    Would you like a government staffer knocking on your door, a few days after you have buried your husband. This is exactly what happened to my aunt. The government staffer was there to value the assets for death tax assessment. A horrible experience. This was one of the reasons that death tax was abolished. Any new death tax will need to be well thought out to avoid adding additional stress to bereaved people .

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