Was the European court right not to change the rules on inheritance tax for the two sisters?
On face value you would say no, however the court was not just ruling on their particular set of circumstances, but the general principle they were presenting to the court. However the courts did uphold an earlier ruling that national governments were entitled to some discretion when deciding taxation arrangements. What this basically means is that while the court could not apply a general principle that siblings are to be treated equally as married or gay couples, they were giving governments the authority to make decisions such as the following. Let us say that the UK government decided they wished to introduce an amendment to inheritance tax laws, such that siblings who were living together at the age of 50 years old (or above) and at the time of death had subsequently continued living together for a further 25+ years, then the UK government would have the necessary authority to introduce this amendment without there being any conflict. Whether that will happen though however is ano
