Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I was at a very informative presentation yesterday given by EDIT in the audiovisual room. One of the women speaking spoke about her issues with the current inheritance tax system. She does not have any children, and she has a sister with a disability. She wants to make sure that her sister is set up for life if, God forbid, she should pass. She cannot leave more than €40,000 to her nieces and nephews tax-free. They are the people who will be looking after her sister and responsible for managing her finances, and are not viewed as direct relations under inheritance tax. This system for capital acquisition tax is incredibly discriminatory against childless couples and needs to be reviewed. It discriminates against single people, people who do not have children and families with an alternative structure.

More than 1 million people in this country are childless, which is 18.4% of the population. The principle of equality before the law is enshrined in our Constitution. The Government has a duty to ensure that all people are treated equally, regardless of whether they have children. This tax discriminates against almost 20% of the population and it is totally and completely wrong. The real kicker is that if I want to leave my assets to a charity, I can do this tax-free, but if I want to pass them on to my granddaughter, she will have to pay through the nose at over €40,000.

The Government has acknowledged in various debates that it does not want to see anyone unfairly penalised, yet it has taken no action on this. One of the reasons cited for the failed referendum last year was to acknowledge different family structures and yet, when there is an opportunity to provide concrete support to these families, the Government simply turns a blind eye.

Capital acquisition tax has not been reviewed since 1991. I ask that the Government specifically looks at inheritance tax for childless couples. In its current form, it is clearly discriminatory.