Thursday 14 November 2024
Labor’s Death Duties to apply to family home mortgages too
The Allan Labor Government’s probate fee hike of up to 650 per cent has highlighted the unfairness of this cash grab on grieving families.
Labor’s massive probate fee increases – in effect, death duties – apply to the gross value of an estate, not the net value.
As Premier Jacinta Allan was told today in Question Time, “an average home in Box Hill valued at $1.7 million, with a $1.2 million mortgage, is counted as a $1.7 million estate for probate fee purposes”.
When asked, “How is it fair that a grieving family pays Labor’s upfront death tax on $1.7 million when the amount inherited is $500,000?”, Premier Allan was either unable or unwilling to answer.
Shadow Attorney-General, Michael O’Brien, said: “Labor’s desperation for cash has led to a massively unfair new tax on grieving families.
“The cost of living in Victoria is already at record levels under Labor. Now, so is the cost of dying.
“Labor’s death duties are an unfair tax grab targeting grieving Victorian families at their most emotionally vulnerable time.
“The Allan Labor Government is taxing the family home at full value, even if it is mortgaged to the hilt with little or no equity.
“Labor cannot manage money and grieving Victorians are paying the price.”