31 AUGUST 2002, Page 25

Relatively unfair

From Mr Richard Nottage

Sir: Rachel Johnson (`The cost of dying', 17 August) states that `in France, relatives pay a modest 5 per cent impost on legacies above 137,000 euros'. If only. . . Not all relatives are taxed in the same way. A child, for example, pays 5 per cent on the first 7,600 euros exceeding 46,000 euros, on a scale that rises to 40 per cent. Legacies to those who are not relatives are taxed at 60 per cent on sums over 1,500 euros.

Richard Nottage

Paris