Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am at a little bit of a loss once again. As is often the case, the Deputy perhaps knows the detail and facts around tax law better than I do. I may have to come back to her with a more substantive response at another date. As she stated, capital acquisitions tax involves two elements. One is inheritance tax and the other is gift tax. In the two most recent budgets, we have reduced inheritance tax. The Independent Alliance was keen for us to do that and, as a Government working together, we were happy to do it. It is our objective to allow the average person to pass on the average house in Dublin and around the country to his or her children without the latter having to pay any inheritance tax on it. Our tax code discriminates positively in favour of inheritances and gifts between spouses and from parents to children. That is treated very differently from an inheritance or gift given to someone to whom one is not related or to whom one is more distantly related.

I understand the point the Deputy makes and where she is coming from in the context of cohabiting. However, there is a difference between cohabiting and being married. Marriage and civil partnership are different relationships to cohabitation. Our law recognises this by favouring those who are married or in civil partnerships over those who are not. It would be difficult and fraught to try to change that or even to define clearly in tax law what is cohabiting and what is not. It is very clear whether one is married or a civil partner as one has to go through a legal process. There is no legal process of which I am aware to show that someone is a cohabitee or not. As the Deputy knows, the Finance Bill is currently being debated. She may take advantage of those debates on the Bill to propose amendments which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, could consider.

See this speech in context