Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 73:

In page 81, line 14, to delete “€280,000” and substitute “€300,000”.

I welcome the change the Minister has made to the Group A tax free threshold; he is increasing it from €225,000 to €280,000. This proposal is to go further to increase it to €300,000. This is not an issue on which there is agreement. Different parties and representatives have different perspectives on it but it is a legitimate aspiration for elderly people in particular who wish to pass on a home or another asset to a son, daughter or other family members and it should be encouraged because, ultimately, that asset has been built up after tax income, a point often forgotten. People pay for the home and pay their mortgage from their net income, which has already been taxed.

The move the Minister has made is a significant one. It is going in the right direction but I would like to see it go further. Did the Minister examine at any stage the possibility of having a separate treatment for a home? There are provisions in law whereby somebody can inherit their parent's house tax free if they have been living in it and caring for the parent for a period of time and so forth but has the Minister examined the issue of dealing with a home separately from other assets? Also, why did he decide not to amend the thresholds that apply to the other two categories, B and C, for inheritances from wider family members?