“Many OECD countries do not tax inheritance”

Are French inheritance rights higher than those of our neighbors?

These taxes pay the French state more than 16 billion euros, or almost 0.8 % of GDP. Within the Economic Cooperation and Development Organization (OECD), the average is around 0.3 %. We are one of the countries whose revenue from inheritance tax is the strongest, after South Korea and Belgium. These represent exceptions: the trend is less and less to tax the inheritance.

Why reform existing legislation is such a sea serpent?

Recall that in the 19th century, philosophers were already wondering if it were not necessary to abolish the heritage. Today, when the question is raised, it is to put on the table the decrease in inheritance tax. Some states, like Sweden, have removed them while they are countries deemed to be egalitarian. We escape this debate in France (The Senate has given up reforming the succession tax last November, editor’s note) . If the question was more central, it is a safe bet that inheritance tax would be reduced.

To what extent is the heritage cause of inequality?

The value of the wealthiest heritage increasing a lot, they transmit more and more. The weight of the heritage transmitted is therefore important. That said, one of the major causes of generational inequality is education. If you come from a higher social category, you are more likely to be a graduate and therefore to have more income. It is a factor all the more important as the heirs touch on average their succession around 50 to 60, an age when their social status is already often established.