> In other words, "a society in which inheritance weighs more than work in the accumulation of wealth," as Mélanie Plouviez, a lecturer in social and political philosophy at Université Côte d'Azur, explained in an interview with Le Monde on March 31.
This is true in every decent society, where it is possible to earn and keep wealth. You have but one lifetime, so it is natural the fortune built up in many lifetimes by your ancestors is greater. Keep in mind much tax has already been paid during the accumulation of those fortunes, as France has a high tax rate compared to the OECD average [1].
> By 2040, €9 trillion in inheritance held by France's oldest citizens will be passed down to their children, according to a report by the Fondation Jean Jaurès, published in November 2024. This equates to €677 billion annually.
France has 675k deaths annually [2], which equates to €1M per death in inheritance, or two houses' worth [3]. Of course this says nothing about inequality, which is hidden by averages - I'm just trying to put the articles' utterly meaningless numbers into some context.
> Indeed, surveys consistently show inheritance tax is the most disliked levy. This is likely because it touches on deeply rooted ideas of family, effort and intergenerational support. Some researchers, like Plouviez, also point to a widespread misunderstanding of how inheritance tax works. "The least favored segments detest it," even though they are not affected by it, said the sociologist, given that the first €100,000 passed to each child is tax-exempt.
They are correct to dislike it. "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit." They may not be directly affected, but how differently will the factory owner act, when the more he builds the long-term value of his company, the more tax will have to be paid to leave it to his children. This encourages short term thinking, and worse, forces those heirs to entangle themselves in financial markets. What was once a family company planning for decades ahead, now worries only about next quarter's stocks and dividends because they were forced to sell parts of it as shares to pay inheritance tax.
I don't understand this obsession with taxing inheritance - which promotes the most virtuous and long-term behavior, when taxing income does not have these faults - and, I will hazard a guess, still has plenty of tax loopholes activists could be targeting instead.
https://archive.is/8SgR9
This is true in every decent society, where it is possible to earn and keep wealth. You have but one lifetime, so it is natural the fortune built up in many lifetimes by your ancestors is greater. Keep in mind much tax has already been paid during the accumulation of those fortunes, as France has a high tax rate compared to the OECD average [1].
> By 2040, €9 trillion in inheritance held by France's oldest citizens will be passed down to their children, according to a report by the Fondation Jean Jaurès, published in November 2024. This equates to €677 billion annually.
France has 675k deaths annually [2], which equates to €1M per death in inheritance, or two houses' worth [3]. Of course this says nothing about inequality, which is hidden by averages - I'm just trying to put the articles' utterly meaningless numbers into some context.
> Indeed, surveys consistently show inheritance tax is the most disliked levy. This is likely because it touches on deeply rooted ideas of family, effort and intergenerational support. Some researchers, like Plouviez, also point to a widespread misunderstanding of how inheritance tax works. "The least favored segments detest it," even though they are not affected by it, said the sociologist, given that the first €100,000 passed to each child is tax-exempt.
They are correct to dislike it. "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit." They may not be directly affected, but how differently will the factory owner act, when the more he builds the long-term value of his company, the more tax will have to be paid to leave it to his children. This encourages short term thinking, and worse, forces those heirs to entangle themselves in financial markets. What was once a family company planning for decades ahead, now worries only about next quarter's stocks and dividends because they were forced to sell parts of it as shares to pay inheritance tax.
I don't understand this obsession with taxing inheritance - which promotes the most virtuous and long-term behavior, when taxing income does not have these faults - and, I will hazard a guess, still has plenty of tax loopholes activists could be targeting instead.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_France
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/464154/number-deaths-fra... - estimating by total population and the average lifespan yields a similar figure.
[3] https://mydolcecasa.com/france-real-estate-market-report/