Bis repeated. In the Ipsos Sopra-Steria survey on the French people’s relationship to taxes, carried out for the Association for the International Foundation for Public Finance (Fondafip) and The world, the subject of inheritance tax gives rise, as often, to contrasting responses. While this tax is considered the least justified among the ten levies tested, behind the CSG and the contribution to public broadcasting (abolished since 2022), the proportion of unfavorable respondents is down: 74% of those questioned find the rights of succession ” instead “ Or “completely unjustified”compared to 83% in 2018 and 80% in 2013.
For a quarter of respondents (26%), taxing inheritance makes sense on the contrary, compared to only 17% five years ago. This proportion even rises to 42% for left-wing supporters.
In detail, 90% of respondents believe “it is necessary that this tax is not too high”, on the grounds that it is normal to pass money on to one’s children, reveals the investigation. Similarly, 86% agree with the idea that reducing this levy “is a fair measure”, insofar as the transmitted money has already been taxed when it was earned.
On the other hand, if 64% of respondents share the opinion that lowering inheritance tax “mainly benefits people with significant wealth”they are only 45% to approve the last assertion tested in the survey: “If we are in favor of merit and the reduction of social inequalities, inheritance tax must be high”because “it is not normal that some are rich only because their parents were rich”. A majority of French people therefore say they disagree with this idea, which is nevertheless placed under the sign of social justice.
Unfamiliarity with the system
“It’s striking: the first two arguments – ‘we want to pass it on to our children’ and ‘the money has already been taxed’ – are much stronger than the last”, emphasizes Brice Teinturier, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ipsos, according to whom “when it comes to inheritance, we are faced with something very personal, people do not imagine that between allowances, life insurance and what you can pass on during your lifetime, many of them already do not not be affected by inheritance tax”.
This ignorance of the current system is not new. Inheritance taxes and the idea of raising them are particularly unpopular, all levels of life taken together, while economists constantly stress the extent to which the current system favors the concentration of wealth. Half of French people in France inherit less than 70,000 euros – while in the direct line the tax starts at 100,000 euros –, against 500,000 euros for the wealthiest 10%, recalled a study by the Council of Analysis economic in December 2021. Problem: the high taxation of indirect online amounts (transmission to nephews, grandchildren or stepchildren) blurs the perception: these amounts represent 10% of the amounts taxed, but 50% of State revenue .
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