Petteri Orpon The (kok) government is investigating waiving the inheritance tax and replacing it with a capital gains tax, such as is used in Sweden. The Coalition Party also proposed a temporary halving of the inheritance tax earlier this week.
The debate has a long tradition. Waiver of the tax has generally been advocated in the business world. Inter alia Alexander Stubb said during his ministerial days that “inheritance tax is fundamentally a tax on envy, the dynamic effects on the economy are often negative.”
“Yes, that’s how it is,” agrees the CEO of the Association of Family Businesses Minna Vanhala-Harmanen In the Market Council. The association is known for its tax-related influence work.
“From our point of view, the question is what kind of society we are building. Is it based on income transfers or one where the economic engine would be the well-being of companies and private consumption”, he asks.
The social democratic think tank Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, on the other hand, is known as a defender of the inheritance tax.
“Inheritance tax is a relatively good tax in terms of economic activity. It does not apply to work or direct entrepreneurship, but to property received from other persons. In addition, the inheritance tax is comparatively fair, because it is not directed at one’s own merits, but at property received without merit,” says the foundation’s executive director Lauri Finér.
“Inheritances and gifts usually accrue to the highest earners and wealthiest.”
Vanhala-Harmanen points out that housing assets are often levied in Finland, which can be difficult to convert into money.
“Whether it’s a forest that has to be cut down to get those taxes paid, or an apartment where a widow has the right to live. It’s no coincidence that we currently have 19 million euros of these taxes in foreclosure.”
The tax has clear fiscal significance. Last year, the state collected more than a billion euros in taxes from inheritances and gifts received by Finns.
Would it be possible to waive the tax?
“Unfortunately, we are now in such a situation that we can’t really afford to waive any tax,” says the professor, chairman of the Economic Policy Evaluation Council Niku Määttänen.
Does inheritance tax spoil economic growth? Watch the entire conversation in the attached video.
Market narrate
Inheritance tax is being discussed at the Market Council this week.
Should it be abandoned entirely and replaced by taxing capital gains on inherited property?
And who benefits and who loses if the inheritance tax is waived? The Market Council is also considering how inheritance tax could be developed.
The CEO of the Family Business Association Minna Vanhala-Harmanen, the Executive Director of the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation Lauri Finér and University of Helsinki professor of macroeconomics and chairman of the Economic Policy Evaluation Council Niku Määttänen are coming to discuss these topics.
Market Council is hosted by Kauppalehti’s news manager Jussi Rosendahl.
The commercial partner of the Markkinaraati program is Aktia. All journalistic decisions are made in the editorial office.
Watch all Markkinaraati episodes from here.
Source: www.arvopaperi.fi
