Today was a fasting day, which I stuck to despite Fianna trying to lead me into temptation with a smoked salmon brunch.
As some of you may know I am fundamentally opposed to the concept of inheritance. I don't understand why in the revolution of 1789 the French abolished inherited titles but left in place the inheritance of material goods, surely these are just as unfair and conducive to inequality ? Up to now I wasn't sure what might be a good system to replace it. Following conversations with my Dad and my Nephew over the weekend I believe I have an ideal system which should suit everybody (well maybe not quite everybody).
All inheritance (except between spouses) would be taxed at 100% the money and assets would be put into a Common Inheritance Fund (CIF). Then every year all citizens who have their 25th, 30th or 35th birthday would receive an amount of 50,000€. This mean that all citizens would receive an inheritance of 150,000€ over important years when starting out in life. For those of you who are sceptical I have done the maths and the result would be that after the distribution to the 25,30 & 35 year olds there would be around €100 Billion left to put in the CIF. The CIF could then be used to help low income retirees or to invest in environmental projects (isn't that the best inheritance you can leave your children and grandchildren?) for the whole nation.
The benefits of this system are too numerous to mention (but I'll try anyway):
In order to get this from concept to reality I am calling for all ideas (other than posting it on Facebook
and liking it).
As some of you may know I am fundamentally opposed to the concept of inheritance. I don't understand why in the revolution of 1789 the French abolished inherited titles but left in place the inheritance of material goods, surely these are just as unfair and conducive to inequality ? Up to now I wasn't sure what might be a good system to replace it. Following conversations with my Dad and my Nephew over the weekend I believe I have an ideal system which should suit everybody (well maybe not quite everybody).
All inheritance (except between spouses) would be taxed at 100% the money and assets would be put into a Common Inheritance Fund (CIF). Then every year all citizens who have their 25th, 30th or 35th birthday would receive an amount of 50,000€. This mean that all citizens would receive an inheritance of 150,000€ over important years when starting out in life. For those of you who are sceptical I have done the maths and the result would be that after the distribution to the 25,30 & 35 year olds there would be around €100 Billion left to put in the CIF. The CIF could then be used to help low income retirees or to invest in environmental projects (isn't that the best inheritance you can leave your children and grandchildren?) for the whole nation.
The benefits of this system are too numerous to mention (but I'll try anyway):
- Creation of a real sense of solidarity between generations and between "classes"
- Reduction of envy for the rich since the richer someone becomes the more all grand-children (including yours) will benefit
- Unleashing of the creative potential of the young
- Investment in the environment
- Increase in spending in the economy (1,000 people with 50,000€ each spend a lot more than 1 person with €50 Million
- Real progress towards equality of opportunity
The negative aspects:
- None
In order to get this from concept to reality I am calling for all ideas (other than posting it on Facebook
and liking it).
Wonderful! That’s a great idea
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