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Originally Posted by jswinden
Same here in USA. I think currently any estate valued over $250,000 is subject to an inheritance tax. While we are alive, the annual property and school taxes we pay based on the current value of our houses can add up in a few decades to be more than what we initially paid for the house. Some elderly people bought homes after WWII in Austin and paid them off by the 1980s. They then retired on limited incomes. The property values in the mid-1990s rose so high, and continue to do so, that many of these people were forced out of their lifetime homes due to property taxes rising to a level higher than they could afford to pay. Over here you never really own your house, you will be paying the bank and/or the county and school district until you die!
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Actually, I believe that the exclusionary amount for the US death tax is around $5 M, though different states also may or may not have a death tax. The death tax in the US is one of those things that has varied quite a bit over time. Sometimes the death tax is removed, only to be added back later. I think that the current tax reform bill removes it, but that may change as it moves through Congress.